PlotPoint

Well, not fun. I noticed a little sluggishness when starting the first gen LS400 the past few days, but it started right up so thought nothing of it.

Today, I went out to clean the interior of the car. It was warm out, so I turned the key to the right just far enough to make it possible to roll down a few windows. I did that a few times -- rolling down and up when I finished.

Went out about 15 minutes later and there's nothing but a 'key' beep when I turn the key all the way to the right to start the car. I see a few dash lights for a few seconds, then nothing. No click either. Just a key beep.

The first thing I noticed is that when I got in the car, the brake pedal felt 'hard'. There was no give whatsoever. That's the kind of thing that the car has done before when it's locked up somehow. Did I do something to cause this when I was cleaning? Hit a lever of some kind?

Or can it just be that the battery quit on me? Pray for me that it's not something worse. Yes, AAA is on its way but wanted to check in here. What does the hard brake pedal mean? If I 'locked' it accidentally, how do I unlock it? Tx.

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

dead battery.

brake pedal is fine, without the engine running there's no vacuum assist.

rick1987

iTrader: (1)

This. Charge you battery.

PlotPoint

Ok, thanks. You were correct, the wheel was not locked. It WAS the battery, but when he first put this green box thing-y on it, still nothing when I turned the key. We tried that four or five times, then he got the cables. Still nothing (at first). After he fiddled with the cables, we got a rapid tat-tat-tat-tat. And then he said, well, it could be your starter.

I have read in these forums that if you hear a single click when you turn the key, it's your battery and the rapid tat tat tat means it's your starter. So, I was basically panicked at that point.

Then I guess with the cables hooked up it was charging (?), because on the next try it tried to turn over. A couple minutes later it did turn over. Which was a huge relief. It must have been really dead to not even make a noise on the first few tries after the cables were on. That's never happened before. There were always signs of life after the cables were on before..

Anyway, he told me to take it out and drive it for a good 45 minutes so the battery would recharge. Which you can bet I did. Said the short drives around town that I am doing are not enough to allow it to recharge and that that's the worse thing I can do for the battery,

Whew! Thanks all.