Well, 4-5 years is good service for a regular battery in regular conditions. However, on our RXh vehicles, many folks see 7+ years of life from the Panasonic auxilliary 12v batttery. I replaced my 7+ year old battery proactively, and it was not giving me any issues. I changed it anyway because I wanted to minimize any liklihood of my wife getting stranded somewhere when it decided to finally die.

 

RXh is an exception because (imho) the huge demand of current at start time is not there. Incidentally I am 12yrs + for GS400.

Salim

 

You people are incredibly helpful.
follow up question: Why does a battery sweat? My last battery died of "sweating" too much. It died in less than a year. It was super strange.......

 

Are you talking about a sealed battery or a conventional maintenance battery? If the latter, the water from the battery's acid solution in the cells can evaporate and then recondense on top of the battery. The solution is to keep it dry and perpetually replace the water in the cells to keep the acid strength where it should be.

If, on the other hand, you're talking about a sealed battery like you have (or had) in your RXh, well.... I can;t answer that one aside from guessing that there was a leak in the upper part of the case which allowed the same internal water to evaporate adn re-condense on the external casing surface.

 

Also note that any water top-ups on a battery shall NOT be done with tap water.

 

Specifically use DISTILLED WATER.

 

actually I was referring to the regular "sealed" kind. particularly it was for my gen 1 RX, which I think isn't too different that what you'd find at Costco.

it was as if it was containing Starbucks ice coffee in a clear plastic cup. the outside had this small droplets of moisture all over. But no visible leak anywhere.

 

Just replaced the OEM Panasonic on our '11 RX350 originally purchased in '10, due to slow cranking after sitting in the garage for two weeks. Wife is happy because now she doesn't worry about being stranded at the shopping center after hours of strenuous shopping. : ) Purchased Interstate at Costco. $97. Swapped it out myself. Hardest part was those pesky fasteners on the plastic engine covers. Jeesh!
BTW, my experience with batteries is that a dead cell will cause intermittent failure, will pass a voltage test, in turn, causing intermittent head scratching. Intermittent failure = permanent replacement.
Loved the AAA story. We've used their roadside assistance once in 20 years. That was when my father-in-law parked the old Avalon with the door ajar for two weeks.
Ray A.

 

183K km on my 2011. (Newish) Service Advisor thought it was replaced recently as tests came back good. It's the original battery.:-)

 

I find the hold downs as a neat fastener.

Collar and the center pin. When everything is in level the fastener is secured (claws are expanded). I use the back end of a ball point pen to push down the center pin. As the center is pushed down 1/8" or a bit more the claws retract and the fastener can be pulled out, by grabbing the collar.
To arm the fastener, I hold the collar and push the tip of the center pin against my work bench, till the center pin comes up and goes past the collar. In this state, the claws are retracted.
Hard part is securing the fastener. As you push down on the center pin, you must stop when the center pin is flat at the collar level. Short, the claws have not expanded. Too far, you are in open position.I use the flat portion of my thumb. Once a while I do go beyond the stop spot and have to redo the steps.
If the claws are deformed, I would throw away the fastener. Not worth the trouble and aggravation.

Salim

 

Mine is dead, 3 years and 2 months into the new car warranty. It's never been run down or let to sit more than 2 days. I've tried reconditioning it and recharging it twice, and it is still only 10.2 volts. We are retired, so it sits in the garage except when we use it. This 2015 RX350 car has 32,000 miles on the odometer. Tomorrow, Monday, I'll see if it's a free replacement by Lexus...

 

There are many better batteries out there than OEM ones. I won't trust 5 year old battery especially in COLD or HOT weather.

 

Hot weather is not kind to battery either. In my working days I used to go down to Phoenix. I observed lots of battery troubles there like we do in cold winter days.

 

mine is on my 07 ES so its not a RX but i have a factory OEM Lexus Branded battery from the dealership it was replace din 2011 it went bad and repalced under warranty again in 2013
and again had to be replaced in 2015 so far the lsat one still checks out great they kepe chekcing it every time i go in for service because of how it kept going bad i guess the same tech is blown by how could so many batterys go bad first they thought i had a shortage somewhere but couldn't find anything
the alternator was also replaced din 2014

 

I'm answering my own question for someone else's benefit. I found this answer from another automotive forum which I'm paraghrasing:
If there is overcharging going on, this hydrogen sulfide gas tends to condense on the outside of the battery case. This is why it appears to be "sweating". If your voltage regulator inside the alternator is set to more than 14 volts, your battery will "sweat" a lot more and your battery life will be shortened because of overcharging. This process may also cause corrosion of the metal in and around the battery case where it is mounted.

Edit: this info may not be correct as pointed out by other members below.