I have a hard time calling that normal. Do you have another Lexus dealer near you or perhaps an understanding Toyota dealer who will do a diagnosis for you? You should be able to park your car in sub-freezing weather for a week and know that it will start. Have you tried elevating this above the dealership level?

Finally, after you jump the battery, did you put a charger on it to give it a deep cycle charge?

 

With the amp meter connected and the reading noted you should start removing the small accessory fuses and see which one drops the amp reading the most and look there for your problem.
Jeff

 

Remember the OLD days when about the only thing that would run down your battery was if the dome light got left on or the regulator stuck and sucked the power from the battery.

Well it sure sounds like something is staying stuck and draining the batt. Either take it to a mechanic (Lexus if it's in warranty) and have him test it AGAIN or get a volt meter and start checking the fuses that are OFF when the key is off. Just a start.

 

Not that long ago I left one of the interior lights on, had gone to the garage to look for something in the car, and forgot to turn it off. Was on the entire weekend. When I went out Monday morning to go to work the light was still on and the car started up, after a brief second of hesitation. This with the original battery over four years old.

While I got lucky, I have to feel that there is something definitely wrong to drain a battery this quick.

Keep bugging the dealer every time until they get tired of hearing from you and/or find another dealer.

 

The dealer has ordered a part to the third-party remote starter (which has been disabled .... and wouldn't you know ... it's minus minus degrees here right now!!!) ... the part will be in next week. That's the problem ... since we've disabled the remote starter, the vehicle battery has been fine.

 

Put in a Stinger Battery in your RX. That's what I did with mine.
Now the RX starts real fast and all electronics in car functioning better than ever.
http://www.stinger-aamp.com/

 

I had a weird battery experience today. I was sitting waiting to pick someone up at the bus station, with the car in 'ACC' (accessory) mode. I had the radio on (noticed the lights stay on in ACC). I started the car twice (during the time I was waiting). All of a sudden I hear a 'crackle' on the radio and it goes out. I try restarting the car, doesn't work.

The manual says check the leads (which I did - they looked fine). It then said to try leaving the interior light on, and restarting (the light went very dim). Seemed like it was the battery.

Left it (we went out for dinner) and returned an hour later. Fired on the second try. When I got home, I checked with a volt-meter (12.5V).

I put in on a 2Amp trickle-charge (tonight).

I wonder if I should take the RX into the dealer to have it checked? Seemed weird that the radio cracked like it did. It almost seemed like a short circuit or something (the starter didn't even seem to want to turn over).

Any similar experiences or thoughts appreciated.

2004 RX-330 (approximately 38000 miles).

 

Have the battery tested under load [dealer can do it so can all the shops who sell batteries].

Sordid details ... if any one cares..
I cant say much about the new electronic systems but they will not be too different from the old.

In run position of the key [in case you shut the rx down, then move the key accidentally to run/on (after ACC and before spring loaded start) .. depending upon the point position, you can get into a condition that the the battery drains through the coil [you get the spark when the point opens].


Salim

 

After my initial 'battery' incident, I noted that the VSC and Check-engine lights came on. I limped along for a couple of more weeks with the warning lights on, and twice the car wouldn't start (even plugging it in every night on a 2A trickle charge).

I took it to my mechanic, and he ultimately replaced the battery. Interestingly enough, when he fired the car back up, the warning (VSC/engine) lights did not come on. Further, the codes were gone (he said that if they were 'hard codes' they likely would have still been locked in the computer of the RX).

It has been about a week now (and other than my tire pressure sensor light coming on - for a brief time while on the highway) which later went out, so far so good.

Thought I would provide a follow-up (and thanks to Salim) for his suggestion - it was the battery!

 

Buy an Optima, or if you feel as if your battery is not the issue, take your alternator to the nearest autozone??? Good luck..!

 

Something I hadn't realized - not all "new" (probably remanufactured) alternators are alike in terms of quality. There's a little alternator shop that does their own rebuilds a few miles down the road in a little town south of my home. I've used them for years for alternator and starter work, and have been quite happy. Now they have grown up a bit and have specialized in reman work, and no longer have a service bay. If you can wrestle the part off and get it to them they do an amazing reman at a more than reasonable price.

Last winter the alternator on JK's van quit altogether, taking the ancient battery down with it. My little alternator shop was closed for the weekend, but there's a kid at the end of the street that my neighbor is letting restore his '72 Caddy convertible - and the guy's got a little shop in an old gas station - and is doing some nice work. (His wife drives an RX, so he may be lurking around here somewhere - I promoted this site a little with him.) Long story short, I had him replace the van's alternator - but he gave me an option of a Autozone product or one from the NAPA store a few blocks away. NAPA is more expensive, but he says he's never had a bad one.

Autozone, OTOH, furnished him four bad "remanufactured" alternators in a row - on one job. He got his money back and went to NAPA - he was getting TOO much experience at changing that alternator. Quality is getting to be a real problem it seems with the folks at AZ. Most of their hardware comes from China - and possibly the QC isn't all it could be. It pays to ask around if you are considering a parts purchase . . . they're NOT all alike.

 

I would NEVER recommend Autozone/Advance Auto alternators for a family (read that your wife or significant other) car. While these are probably decent alternators, I question the source and quality of the rebuid.

As Lil4X posted, if I have a local alternator/starter rebuild shop within a reasonable distance, I would use them. Since these "mom and pop" kind of shops rely on their reputation, they have to do good work. Fwiw, when my neighbor's classic Corvette alternator went south, we took it in and the local shop rebuilt it right then and there. It was only marginally more than a rebuilt unit from the FLAP.

As far as batteries, I would always test them under load to see what is going on. In addition, a simple multimeter from any of the Home Depot/Lowes type of stores will allow you to test the voltage of a battery (engine off) and the alternator.

Gary

 

It is most likely a faulty battery. My Jaguar went into limp mode and the dealer said the battery was not fully charged as we do not drive it enough. They charged it and did a load and system charging test, it passed. Two days later the battery was dead. I charged it and checked the specific gravity of the fluid in each cell and found one over 15% off. This was proof enough, and the dealer replaced the battery. No problems after two years. Not all mechanics are equal.

 

Grumpa- I totally agree with everything you say in your post except for 1 thing- as a matter of fact a lot of people don't realize the truth of most of those statements. A fully charged battery should show at least 12.6v after a load test. A few batteries will show as high as 12.8v but most will show about 12.6v. (2.1v per cell) A deep cycle will go to over 13v and MAY hold it but not a starting battery. A lot of people think their battery is in good shape because it starts the car fine. A booster pack will start a car fine but have you ever seen the battery in a booster pack? A load test is the only way to tell the true condition of a battery. I have 2 different kinds of load testers (carbon pile & electronic) and load test my batteries every 3 mo. or so and most of the time you can see a battery gradually weaken as much as a year to a year and a half before they show signs of failure.

 

My wife's 07 Rx 350 refused to turn over this morning after sitting in the garage overnite. I jump started it and have an 1:00 pm appointment at our local dealership. Without even listening to all the details, the SA said "it looks like we will have to replace the battery". Obviously they are having battery problems in the Rx's. Will keep you posted with the visit results.