Battery
My battery always goes flat if I don't use the car for over a week. Any ideas please?
Dead locked
This time I left it for 2 weeks and can't even get into the car. Usually the battery goes flat and the car is unlocked. Now the Lexus service man tells me on the phone that it must be 'deadlocked' because I must have pressed the fob twice when I locked it. He says he doesn't know how to get into the car and suggested I call the AA!
Can this be right? Shouldn't the very expensive main dealer know how to help?
Has anyone else had this problem? All suggestions (polite please) would be most welcome.
Jane

Surely it is just a case of charging the battery... ??

John

Can she get in to open the bonnet John? Does the boot open and does the ls430 have a ski hatch type of thing like the is200's have? as most of the time the boot hasnt got a deadlock fitted so you can open it with the key? A couple of members have gone in through the boot with a bit of wire and opened the car by pulling the inner door handle?

Even if the car is double locked you can still open it with the key, there is a silver plastic blanking plug in the drivers door handle, remove this with your fingernails or a bit of plastic, as it is quite soft and will mark easily, then use the key blade in your key fob, it comes out by sliding the catch at the base of the key and then sliding it out.

Good luck

Pete

Unfortunately the fridge is where your ski hole is ..... it is impossible to get in the car from the boot

Pete

Well shut my mouth.....

forgot all about that

Ok, then... once he gets the bonnet open... then read my first post !



John

Your just rubbing it in now Pete

Thanks Pete. Have got in with the manual key. Trouble is, have now set off the alarm. The battery obviously has just enough to keep the anti-theft alarm going.
Jane

Will buy a battery charger tomorrow.

I think the alarm may have a separate back up battery but who needs a Lexus dealer when you have LOC

Thanks. It stopped after a periodic low-key sounding for about 8 mins.

Jane

Good news.... How old is your 430 and is it the original battery, my original gave up about two months ago at about 7 years old.... got a Bosch Silver with 4 year warantee for about £70 from a motor factor.

Luckily you don't have a Merc as you would have to reset everything when the battery goes flat, at least yours will remember most things, sometimes you have to reset the windows if the one touch has given up.... just open them all the way then shut them all the way with the button to train them again.......

Good Luck

Pete


Yeah I know just couldn't resist it.... I will have a cold one for you next time I'm out, will get it out of the fridge that is behind the massaging and electrically reclining rear seat, below the electric blind, and in front of the rear air con unit with air purifier.....

Pete

Thanks for the tips, Pete. The car's 2000 and we got it in 2005. The battery isn't the original as I know we replaced it, but I can't find my records at the moment. Have been reading an interesting LOC 5 page thread started by Rod on July 3, 2007: ‘Battery failure, Failed to start after holiday RX400H’. Someone there recommends a larger battery by TOYOTA, an Optifit 70 amp hour part no. 28800-YZZ.
Have been researching battery chargers but don't feel confident to use one myself at this stage. Will call the AA and see what the state of the current battery is.

I would be concerned if my battery regularly lost it's charge over a period of just 1 week. If the correct size battery is fitted and you are not just using the car for VERY short distances( 2 or 3 miles ) then the battery should not discharge in such a short space of time unless something is draining it. Dependant upon when you last replaced it then it could just be "old age".
AFAIK the remote should still open the car as the alarm function has backup to help guard against your battery being disconnected or wires cut by wouldbe thieves.

I would not recommend buying a battery charger, they can do more harm than good. If the battery will not hold charge you must replace it. The battery should have a date on it, if it is over three years old ( the normal warranty period) then replace it .

If the battery does hold charge then you either have fault with the alternator or a drain on your battery when parked with the ignition off.

If you leave your "smart" keys anywhere near the car it will cause your battery to go flat, the keys must be at least 15 feet away from the car.

Thanks for that. I didn't use the car for 2 weeks. The battery was replaced about 2 years ago at Lexus. There must be a lot of electronic gizmos draining the battery.

Thanks for that. The smart keys have been closer than 15 feet away. The battery is only about 2 years old from Lexus.
Following discussions with the AA man and the Lexus main dealer, I bought a solar-powered 12 V 1.5W battery trickle charger today from Maplin. I'll see if it offsets the drain on the battery when the car is not being used and sitting on our driveway. Will report back. It'll be good if I can give some useful info to other LOC members like yourself who've been so helpful to me.

There you go Pete you could have a solar powered fridge in the 430

Steve

Yeah good idea.... how many panels do you think it would take to run the rear air con?????

JEM

There is not enough room to fit a larger battery, well physically larger anyway, the battery has to be the exact size or it will not fit, the fixings have no adjustment and the base tray it sits in is moulded for that size, it is not removable so you are limited to the original size. My original battery did not have a A/hr rating, the new one is a Bosch Silver model number S4027 and is rated at 70A/hr, not a massive amount but it works fine and has a 4 year warantee. I leave mine for days at a time and it is OK.

I hope the solar charger does the trick for longer periods, will be interesting to see

Good Luck

Pete

If the battery is only 2 yrs. old from Lexus you should sound them out for a replacement battery at their expense(assuming that the battery has failed) You should get a battery with at least 500a start up(CCA) with a V8 4.3 ltr engine.

If the battery and charging system are working correctly then you should not need a battery charger, by topping up your battery you are just treating the symptoms of the fault, when the ignition is off there will be a very slight drain in the battery but it should be able to last for several months with out going flat.

On the BMW I had if you left anything plugged into the cigarette lighter IE a phone charger, ipod etc, it would see it as a load and not go in to sleep mode so draining the battery, also I had a faulty radiator fan which had the same effect. a good auto electrician should be able to trace the fault, also there may be some fault codes stored which could pinpoint the fault?

Sorry, my mistake - the car is Sep 2001.

Thanks, I'll check.