Flat Battery - Grrrrrr!

[Claire G]

Spent a couple of hours yesterday washing and polishing the car. Had the radio on for no longer than 30 mins, then went to move the car back and the Battery had died. We put it on charge for a fair few hours and then went to start the car again, although it turned over, the engine didn't spark into life. Thought the immobiliser had got into a tizzy, so decided to leave the car over night.

Gone out this morning and absolutely no luck - after a couple of trys, the Battery died again. Was tearing my hair out (today is not the day to be without a car). Went to check all the fuses and noticed a yellow sticker saying that if the Battery dies, leave the key in the ignition in the 'on' position for 6 minutes.

Why couldn't that be mentioned in the bloomin' manual!!!!!!! Am cross, stressed and cross - in that order :shutit:

Is this common knowledge, or have I been :iraqi-info-minister: ???

[Rodders_UK]

Never heard of that before - wonder what it does?

[Claire G]

Not sure, but I've got the Battery on charge again and praying that it starts soon.

Do you think I need a new Battery? Seems strange it was dead after just half an hour of listening to the radio.

[Rodders_UK]

Batteries can just "die" - anything over 5 years old I'd probably swap out if it started paying up.

Perhaps leaving the key in the ignitiion is to do with programming the immobiliser??

Get a replacement from Halfords - buy as "heavy duty" as you can. If it was me, I'd give it one more chance for a full charge and out it if it dies again

[MrADeveci]

Have you checked if there is enough fluid's in the Battery ?

[Claire G]

Thanks, have checked the fluid and it seems fine. Going to keep it on charge for a bit longer, then try it and if I have any problems will ditch it.

[eMJay]

My Battery just died on my Series I last year. I had used the car one evening without any problems and went to go out the following morning and put the key in the ignition and the steering wheel didn't moved, so I turned the key to On and the dash lit up, but when I tried to start the car nothing happened at all.

After Looking at it my Dad and I suspected it was the original Battery, so replacing it was the best option and I got a long life/heavy duty one from Halfords and it's been fine ever since.

[yacoob]

i got the same problem with my is 200.

yesterday went shopping & then for a 40 minute cruise, came back, mate borrowed it 1/2 an hour later, he came back, hour later i went back out and guess what ??

it wouldn't start

jump started it with a booster, & fired up again

weird, that aleays happens at least once a month :tsktsk:

[Claire G]

Hurrah - got it started! Phew. Will see how it goes,but may invest in a new Battery anyway!!!

[Bazza]

for the amount of a new Battery i would change it

you never know when it will not start again, and it will be at the most inconvinient time, or worse still when you are in a vunrable position

:)

[Tron20]

It's nice to see I'm not the only Lexus GS owner to have the Battery go flat on him/her yesterday, :D , I was doing the exact same thing, I'd washed the car, and the water dried onto the paint in some places, so spent some time polishing them out, with the radio turned on and music playing, and all of a sudden the cd started skipping....

Whoops I thought, looked inside and all the dash was dimly lit, must've been left in the second position with all the ignition circuit on and the radio, drained it within 1 hour, stuck it on charge, and it was fine after. Didn't need all this 6 minute with the key in the ignition. I actually tried to turn the car over with the flat Battery and got a faint clicking noise :duh:

[wheatobear]

mine died too after leaving the interior light on....i may have to try and leave the key in the ignition ....

[newport]

If a Battery fails once it will do it again they dont last forever, its amazing they last as long as they do.

[PGLex]

i think your right about immobiliser. i may be wrong but do seem to remember reading on here somewhere that leaving key in ignition does re synch the immobiliser with the key some how.

[addzLex]

When mine went flat the once whilst I was installing a new headunit, it then went again shortly after.

The best thing is to replace it

[wheatobear]

yep the ignition thing is completely true...replaced my Battery and still wouldnt start ....so left my key in ignition and 6 mins later i heard a buzz and it started...winner!

[GS430SE]

My 2004 GS430 suffered from repeated Battery flattening, forcing me to change the Battery about twice as often as would have been expected. The alternator and charging circuitry was fine. Trial and error showed if the alarm was not set, the Battery didn't drain.

I tracked down the electrical fault to a siren in the alarm system. Simply taking it out of circuit (snip on the power feed to it) and the problem disappeared. The horn makes more than enough racket without the reinforcement of the siren!

Hope that helps anyone else who has experienced a similar problem.