I bought my cherry clean 2006 RX330 a year ago. Even though it had 206,000 miles on it, it was extremely well maintained, looks practically new, and runs like a top. That's the good news.

On the other hand, the previous owner told me about a quirk that his garage was unable to solve. If the rear hatch is left open for a significant period of time ( a couple of hours?), the battery runs down. I see in the maintenance records that the battery has been replaced kind of often. The previous owner finally gave up on having it fixed and just lived with it, being careful to close the hatch.

Despite his warning, I never experienced that problem, until yesterday. The previous evening I had placed a folding table in the rear and the hatch didn't quite close, but I didn't worry about it, I would finish loading things in the morning. When I tried to start it the next day - no go. I put my meter on the two year-old battery and it was only showing 8.5 volts. Rats.

So I charged the battery up for a few hours and then drove it fine for a couple of short trips.

So dear friends, does anyone have an idea where the trouble may lay?

Thanks.

 

are the interior lights on when the hatch is open? Do they turn off automatically after a certain amount of time? I can't recall if RX does that.. i know some cars do.

 

I have a 2007 RX, which may not be the same as your car. There are a lot of differences in the electrical systems between the RX330 and the RX350.

On my car, I have 3 interior lights that come on when the rear hatch is opened. One is in the hatch itself and the others are in the cargo area, 1 on each side of the car. Each light may be turned off so it will not light up, but if all the lights are on, I'm sure the battery would be discharged enough so that the car would not start.