My wife's 1999 RX300 (corrected, not GX) with 60K miles is driven probably twice a week. Last year we had a new Walmart 60 month battery installed. A month ago, it had to be jump started. Last week I tried to lock the car with key remote and it started making noises (click-clack-clack...) as if the alarm has gone off but it sounded more like the noises that a starter makes when battery is low. I could not stop it by pressing any of the key remote buttons and had to disconnect the battery.

Any ideas about what could be wrong and how to fix it will be appreciated.

Thank you.

 

Your post got into RX forum. so the collective knowledge of the GX owners will be missing in the replies.

So what happens as you reconnect the battery? Dont tighten it down and just hold it snug for a minute or two. You should hear some whirring and chirping but then every thing should be quiet. If you still hear the click clack sounds ,,, try to locate the source.

Salim

 

Well, a few corrections. I fat fingered the model of the car. In fact it is RX300. Now here is a more accurate description of the problem and the steps I have taken:

1- I tried connecting the battery but the sound does not stop. The sound is actually coming from beneath the fuse/relay block and it sounds more like the horn is trying to blow but can't because of low battery.

2- The battery may be actually low but I have no testing device. When I try to start the car, the sound stops but the engine does not crank.

3- The key remote (I don't know why someone calls it keyless remote) battery was also very low. I had it replaced today. Does it have to be re-programmed?

Could all of this have happened because the key battery was low and it lost its programming?

Thank you.

 

The key battery when replaced does not require reprogramming. [to my knowledge].

The car battery low can cause too many problems.

If you can not spin the starter, [assuming the started is good], you dont need any thing ...the battery is bad.

Take the battery to a shop and have them test it. If it is older than 3 years, I would go ahead and replace it.

Salim

 

You were right. It was a bad battery. Our battery had 3 year replacement warranty and we got a new one. Everything is back to normal.

Thank you for the hand holding.

 

Batteries are such junk anymore that you can come pretty close to figuring on replacing a battery every 3 years anyway, even though they may have a 100 mo warranty (guess that would be 8 yrs, 4 mo, right?) There is no way in Gods green earth ANY of todays batteries are going to last that long- you're lucky if you get half of that.

 

Look at it from another perspective ... an ordinary [say a battery which is expected to last 3yrs] is marked up and sold with 6 yr warranty [3yr @100% and then prorated] and it fails after 3 yrs. If the markup is greater than the cost and the prorated-cost generates money for replacement, you have a customer for life.

Salim