Brake Lights

[finchy40]

Strange small issue with my ISF and wondered if anyone's got any ideas on a fix. After storing it all winter in the garage and despite being on a trickle charger, the Battery went flat.

On fitting a new Battery, when the engine has been switched off for a while the brake lights mysteriously come on and stay on. This happens whilst the car is locked and I just can't work out what's happening. Occasionally the cooling fan stays on as well but not always.

Any ideas folks?

[stevet]

The cooling fans staying on is normal but not sure about the brake lights. Is the new Battery fully charged?

[finchy40]

Hi Steve. Thanks for responding. When I say the cooling fan stays on, I don't mean just after I've switched the engine off. I mean it's on 3 hours later and that's even if I only had the engine on for 10 seconds! 

Battery is brand new and fully charged. The car did the same thing last year. Took it into Lexus who couldn't find anything wrong with it and it didn't do it again for the rest of the summer. Said they hadn't done anything with the car and therefore had no idea why it had happened in the first place.

[Peter P18]

No clue I'm afraid!

I'd get it back to the dealership for further investigation. Certainly not normal, or something that should be happening.

Sounds like you have some electrical gremlins somewhere. Take it you haven't added anything electrical to the wiring like LED rear bumper reflectors?

Check your terminals for excessive corrosion/buildup as well. That can sometimes cause issues from what I've read on the US forum.

[Mark G]

I had a similar problem with motorbikes stored over the winter and it usually turns out to be rodents chewing the wiring and causing electrical problems!!

[finchy40]

Thanks lads. Think I've got to the bottom of it. 

Thankfully no wire chewing involved. Looks like the negative Battery terminal wasn't as tight as it could have been so Pete, chalk that one up to you!

All seems to be ok again now but I am left wondering how Lexus didn't rumble that last year. 😳

[stevet]

Lexus did exactly the same with my negative terminal. Didn't have the same problems as yours. Mine just completely shut down (luckily just walking pace in traffic) the day after visiting the dealer. Wonder if their recommended torque settings are too low?

[finchy40]

It's probably worth a mention though I would have thought if it was a standard torque setting, more people would be having trouble.

Ill be mentioning it next time I'm in there.