Hello everyone, I am new to the community after purchasing a 2008 GX 470 at 116k miles last week. I drove it home from the seller's home close by last week, and have driven it since with no problems. Yesterday, the car wouldn't start at all... I tried jumping it twice to no avail, and am wondering if there is something else preventing it from firing up.

In my excitement to make the car my own, I have removed all the wood grain paneling (including in the doors) to wrap in a brushed black, although everything is now back in the car. Wondering if somehow something reset, or if one of the electrical clips didn't go fully back into place in the center console or doors. I assumed this wouldn't have any effect on the ignition or the car turning over, but maybe I am wrong.

My original guess was the immobilizer, but the flashing red key icon goes away when the key is put in the ignition. Seems to me this then rules out trouble with that system. Also, the key turns in the ignition freely, but I get the clicking accompanied by nearly all the dash lights flashing on off. Seems to me to me it is probably battery related as I may have left a light on in my interior removal. The headlights, interior lights and GPS screen turn on, but I wonder if this is just from the residual power left.

Any ideas?

 

When you try and start, does the engine turn over and it wont' fire, or it won't turn over at all? I'm guessing you left an interior light on or something like that and the battery is just dead. If it's all the way dead, it won't allow a jump start unless you leave the charged batter connected for a bit to get a bit of a charge back onto the dead battery.

 

Sorry edited the post for more info. I get the clicks, but no turning over. Wouldn't be surprised if I left a light on. What threw me for a loop was that the interior lights would still come on without trouble, but I'm thinking the car has enough left for them to come on, but not enough to turn over.

 

Clicking rather than cranking is a classic symptom of a dead battery. Interior lights draw very little and I'm not surprised they would light up still. Throw the battery on a charger overnight and you should be good to go. Once charged, you can test the voltage across the battery posts with a multimeter, a fully charged battery should settle in around 12.6V once the surface charge has dissipated. If you're unable to get it charged to this level, it's possible you have a bad cell in the battery and it needs replaced.

 

I appreciate the help, and think I wasn't giving it the time to get much juice back in when jumping. I'll get it hooked up. A new battery isn't the end of the world if that's the ultimate outcome.