Just wondering if the car isn't used for a while how long the battery will hold it's charge?I know long term would need to be plugged in.What about a couple of weeks?

 

Are you posting because your battery has died after a short period of sitting, or just a general question? If a general question, you should be fine for a couple weeks and more.

If you have a 2013, or 2014 GS and your battery has died, you may want to look at this: http://www.revbase.com/BBBMotor/TSb/...dPdf?id=195332

 

I am posting as I have had the car 2015 GS350 F sport for a week.My 1999 Jeep TJ can be left for a month or so and will still start.The Ford Escape would drain after just a couple of weeks.With the amount of electronics working in the background with these cars i am wondering if it will crank over if not used for a couple of weeks.Thanks for your assurance that two or three weeks is not a problem.

 

On several occasions, I have left my 2013 GS350 undriven for five to six weeks while I was on vacation, must recently last June. Never had a problem, much to my surprise. My battery is the original one from the factory, BTW.

 

Good to know,thanks.

 

There's a difference in how long it could, should, or will hold its charge. My owner's manual specifically specs the length of time that it should be okay as a "long time."

I consider ~ 6-8 weeks as a reasonable expectation. There is a TSB for some '13 and '14 models that the ECU may not properly go into a low-power state, and drains the battery too quickly.

Naturally how long you can go is a function of how fully charged your battery was. If you made a pile of short trips in cold weather, your battery is much less likely to be well charged than if you recently completed a fairly lengthy drive.

 

Probably a good idea to put the battery tender on if it,s going to be over four weeks then.

 

I seem to recall there were some ****ty batteries that came with some Lexus vehicles at this time, too. My mother's '13 ES350 was afflicted by this "battery dies too fast" BS, (if she left the car sit for a week and a half it would refuse to start) and then after her last visit to the dealer it mysteriously went away. I think they gave her an ECU reflash/replace and/or replaced her battery without saying they did, I think this was a huge embarrassment to the brand and some dealers.

-Mike

 

My car had the battery replaced by the original owner fairly early in its life. In my 30k service they replaced the battery again, as they apparently did a load test and it failed. I was unaware the battery was weak at the time. The TSB I'm aware of is for an ECU defect that affects a specific set of VINs across the 13/14 years. My car falls into the VIN list of possibly affected cars, and I fortunately haven't experienced issues with the battery mysteriously dying due to charge loss.

I've noticed batteries in general appear to have gone downhill, especially with their tolerance of higher trickle drains. I've had 3 different cars, all from 3 different manufacturers, now that end up requiring battery changes approximately every 2 years. I had another car that went on average 6 years between battery changes, and that was in the same climate with arguably worse driving habits -- it was a lower-tech car with probably 0 drain when the engine was off.

 

I need a new battery. I just talked to my dealer and service guy and he said that the battery is not covered under CPO.
A new battery is around $130 or $230 installed.
What kind of batteries have you guys used?