TeamThrust

I have had my shares of dead batteries / bad alternator. I'm not sure how comfortable you guys are with checking it yourself. What I normally do to test if the battery or alternator is bad is by starting the vehicle normally (in this case if battery is already dead, jump start the car). While the car is running remove the battery.

Here are the scenarios:

1. Once the battery has been removed and the car is still running that means the alternator is good and battery is bad.
2. If the car shuts off immediately after removing the battery that means that the alternator is bad which is draining your battery.

Hope this helps.

coach1

Well my 2014 GS350 F Sport, with 12K miles, died after 2 1/2 weeks in the garage. Lexus dealer tested it "good" after I put it on a charger for 2 hours and drove across town. Yesterday I went to an Interstate dealer because the joke of a tester Lexus used only tested voltage. The original Panasonic battery is rated at 585 cca and it tested at 400 cca after charge and driving it for a few days. I asked the Interstate guy how long their 850 cca battery would hold a charge enough to start the car and his answer was about 6 months. So I bought a battery and called customer service with this information and asked for some sort of reimbursement.

kilodave

My 2013 GS350 with 54K miles died and had to be jump started before I could leave the gym. I went to Autozone to test the battery and charging system. They stated that the alternator had a bad modulator. It was charging about 13 volts. The GS requires 14.3 or slightly more to charge the battery; therefore, the battery became weaker until it eventually could not maintain a charge or hold enough charge to crank the car. I replaced the alternator with a genuine Lexus alternator from a salvage yard. Saved a lot replacing it myself. Note: if you're replacing your alternator, I don't recommend the refurbished type from the parts stores. Many of them doesn't put out enough amps for the Lexus. It will eventually burn out quickly and you'll will have the same problem. Hope this helps!

er34

This is very bad for the electronics... NEVER remove the battery while the car is running.

The purpose of the battery is not just to provide power, but also to provide power filtering. The output of the alternator fluctuates, and your battery acts as almost like a smoothing capacitor to get rid of AC ripples, spikes and keeps things within spec for all the electronics in your car. Taking it out completely means all the electronics now have to deal with the spikes. No good.

coach1

Lexus came through......I am receiving full reimbursement.

rjm

That's probably why my Lexus dealer replaced my 4 year old Panasonic battery with an Interstate battery with the Lexus logo on it.

bclexus

Excellent! That's good customer service...

r4nd0

I've found the original battery dead or nearly dead a few times in my 2014. The first time the car had sat in the garage for about 10 days. The doors unlocked but the dash and electronics went nuts when I pressed start. I charged it overnight and it was fine in the morning. The next time it had sat for 7 days and I got the click click click upon pressing the start button. I turned off the lights, fan and made sure the seat was done moving and pressed the button again. It struggled to crank but it did manage to turn over and start. The most recent occurence was after the car sat for just 5 days. I got the slow crank but a successful start. No doubt, 1 more day of sitting and it wouldn't have made it. My VIN was in range for the L-SB-0035-16 service bulletin so I took it to the dealer. They found the battery to be good and also determined that my car already had the upgraded network gateway part. In the end, they offered that I should either drive the car more frequently or keep it on a battery tender -- not exactly the kind of advice I'd expect from brand that stakes its reputation on quality. I expressed my dissatisfaction with this result but no further resolutions were offered.

GudSht350

Our 2014 GS350 battery just died the other day.
They said it could have been left in "accessory mode" overnight, or maybe the camera we plug into the car was draining the battery, but they are unsure.

Anyway, before I even tried to start the engine, I was hearing a rapid, loud click click click sound, seemed to come from the engine bay.

I was told this is just the battery, but somehow did not sound like it was coming from the battery.

Anyone ever heard of this sound? I recorded it but the file is too big to post here.

bclexus

It's a typical sound when the battery is practically dead. The rapid clicking you heard is the starter solenoid. The solenoid is being energized, but the battery isn't strong enough to fully engage the starter motor to the engine's flywheel and turn the engine over.

tangierc

I just had the same thing and down't know what's going on. My 2013 GS 350 F Sport would not start this morning. There was a rapid clicking grinding sound. I had AAA come out and charge the battery. They didn't replace it. Oddly I just got that batter about 7 months ago when my previous battery died suddenly. The car dis start the previous morning, but it did seem like an unusually rough start.

I don't know what that clicking sound is.
I also don't know what this sound is form the engine (see link: )
Either it's always been there and I never noticed, but seriously I don't recall that much of a clicking sound coming from the engine.

The only things I leave plugged into any port in the car is a lightning cable in the USB port under the armrest. Though there was no phone connected to it.

At a loss about why my batteries are dying suddenly and what both of these clicking sounds are.

bclexus

The noise in your video is from the direct fuel injector system as the injectors open and close. It's normal, and common on vehicles that use direct fuel injection systems.

er34

It's normal. People need to learn their car's sounds and noises when things are working fine, that way when something really goes wrong, you can be more certain whether it's normal or not.

SW17LS

Is that video your car? Thats an unusual engine cover...

GudSht350

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/gs-...n-t-start.html

you need to check your VIN to see if it falls in this TSIB, like my car did.