Hi folks,

Thought I would pass this here before going to the dealer.

This past summer, I had an issue with my battery. The car got hard to start. Took it to the dealer. They charged it and sent me on my way, said it tested fine. I thought nothing of it.

This last weekend, we drove ~120 miles at night. Got home and the battery was effectively dead. Car wouldn't start (just clicked) and the power hatch wouldn't even close. Waited until the morning and it started (barely). Drove it to the dealer (whose service was closed due to the holiday) turned it off and it fired right back up. Had the battery tested at autozone and it passed.

Any ideas?

I searched "alternator" on here, but didn't find anything similar. I'm just afraid if it's intermittent and the dealer can't identify it, we are left with an unreliable vehicle.

Thanks.

 

How old is the battery?
If it's original, replace it. Three years is plenty for a battery, especially in a climate with cold weather. Today's cars have lots of electronics, and the battery is usually the culprit when strange things happen to them.

 

The car was purchased in July of 04, so the battery is 2 1/2 years old. If it tests OK, the dealer will not replace it under warranty. Sure I can afford it, but it IS a Lexus and I'd hoped to avoid paying for warranted goods. Absent other advice, I will certainly consider swapping the battery if just to insure I have a new and fresh one should the power gremlin drain it again.

It doesn't make sense for it to be dead after a 2 hour trip if it was getting power from the alternator or am I missing something?

Any other ideas? No TSB's?

 

Probably a bad battery terminal connection. If the battery load test fine on the dealerships test equipment it probably is fine. The alternator seems to be working as the battery is holding its charge and not dead. A bad terminal connection can cause these intermittent problems. I had the same thing on my ES. Car would start up fine. After I park and try to restart at times it would not crank as if I had a dead battery. Often the headlights and dash lights work because just enough current is passing though. A starter takes much higher current and thus a bad connection often can't pass enough of it. I used to just open my hood, shake the battery terminals a bit then it would start right up. Soon after whenI had the time I gave it a good cleaning and tightened everything up real good and never had a problem since.

PS. I would still a have the battery load tested again though to completely rule it out or confirm it is bad. 2.5 years is not long, but batteries can go bad in as little a a few months.