Hello All,

I have a 94 ES 300. It has a lot of miles. Well 155K. Anyway, yeaterday I went to start the car up to go to a friends house and it took awhile for the car to start. What actually happened was that I turned the key and then a second or so later it started to crank. It was almost as if the starter wouldn't initialize or something. This happened a couple more times since. The car like I said has 155K miles on it with I believe the original starter. I bought it from a friend of mine and he said it had done that a couple of times when he owned it but that it is fine after the second or third time. Well it has happened five times so far. Most of those 155K are highway as it was a 100 mile daily round trip for him in the Chicago area. I had gotten back from a 100 mile trip earlier and it didn't happen when I started it then. Anyone have any ideas on this. I live about a 2+ hr drive from my dealership and don't want to take it up there only to have them not find a problem. Just let me know. Thanks.

Andrew Koch

 

Do you give it a little gas when you are attempting to start it, or just turn the key?

 

Just turned the key. When I turned the key there was noithing no cranking or anything. Then about a second or so later it started a weak crank and turned over.

 

Your battery has gone to battery heaven. Either that, or there's enough corrosion on the terminals to prevent much current passage. There's a small possibility that your alternator is bad instead (so that the car systems have been runnning off the battery at the same time that it's not being recharged) but it's more likely just a dead cell in the battery.

OEM Lex batteries last from 2.5 to 5 years, in my experience, and then it's time for a new one. Have service dept do a "load test". BTW, new battery is way cheaper than new alternator.

 

About a year ago, I also had a weakening battery, and had it replaced. Funny thing was that the Lexus battery is made in Mexico, which is exactly where I live.

However, I never did have a starting problem with the battery, just that time and radio settings would reset. I usually use a little Coca-Cola (true) to clean the battery connections.

 

Everything else works fine in the car. All accessories and everything. There doesn't seem to be any problems with it at all. I have looked at the terminals and they all seem fine as well. I am taking the car home this weekend to get it looked at and I will let you guys know what it is.

Andrew

 

ajkochuiuc,
The weak crank suggest the battery like others have said. The 2 second "wait" before crank suggests a problem with your ignition switch contacts. Check the battery first, as it's easier. If the battery is good, try wriggling the key between the II and START positions to see if you get a better contact.

Regards

 

Corrosion with terminals seems to be less of a problem than it was back in the days when I was pumping newly formed dino juice and jump starting Cro-Magnon/Neanderthal rides BUT one cannot tell by external appearances of the terminals. The concern is for the interface/contacting surfaces between cable and terminal. To look at these, you've got to pull the cable off (and then you may as well clean cable end and battery terminal anyway, even if they look clean............nothing like shiny metal for good contact!).