i've been away from home for the past 4 weeks and the wife went to start my 97 ls400 and the battery was completly flat.
its a new battery as the old one wasn't holding charge.(i work away often and the car doesn't get used that much, my wife uses her rx!)
anyway is this normal? would a battery only last 4 weeks? its only powering the alarm and clock isn't it?

i'd just like confirmation that this is normal please otherwise i'll take the battery back

Doesn't sound normal to me unless there was a light on or something?

Hi
I had a similar problem with my LS400. I was away for 4 weeks and had trouble starting it. Had to use the jump leads. The battery was only 2 years old. However one of the battery terminals was not a perfect fit so I dont think the battery was getting topped properly when the engine was running. I had to make up an insert to put inside the terminal connection to make a tighter fit. Had not had any problems since.

Hope this helps.

Glenn

What did you use as an insert?

I had an Alpha 156 (am feeling better now thanks - lol) which the battery would run flat after a week if not used - even with a new battery - found it to be the after market alarm system - (installed on car when I bought it - well recognised make) - I got around it by disconnecting the battery when away for longer than a week - this worked - not sure of any implications of disconnecting battery on your vehicle.

actually one of the terminals on mine is broken! i had to get the AA out to find the fault!
i never did fix it! he just tightend it up and said i was to get a new one, i never got round to it then just forgot!

i think that may be part of the cause!

I edited my post above ....sorry!

I used a jubilee clip, like oyu have on a garden hose. Cut the tightening screw off it and wrapped it around the battery terminal, then tightened the terminal ontop of it... has worked fine ever since.

Aaahh lateral thinking, i like that

Hi, I have a GS 430 and have just come back after spending 5 weeks in the UK looking ar Maybachs, I had to jump my car too, the battery was completely flat.
Remember you have alarms and immobilisers running when the car is locked.

Variation on a theme: was at Cherbourg ferry port this last Monday. Maybe 40 minutes waiting to board, aircon on and playing CD, engine not running. Time to board and - would not turn the starter. Fortunately the port guy found some jump leads and it fired up right away (and started again once in Portsmouth!).

My own stupid fault? But I didn't imagine it would run flat in 40 minutes. Should that have been enough to do it? Never had any problems before.

Thanks for any advice.

Chris

there's normally power being supplied to other things too, such as radio memory, also think the ecu draws amps too. it also depends if the battery was fully charged in the 1st place