Dara Connolly

Thanks for the advice. It looks like I need to replace the clamp because it can't be tightened any further. In your opinion and experience, would the slight looseness on the battery terminal cause the electrical "drop-out" symptoms I've been experiencing? There still seems to be good metal-to-metal contact. Of course I will be very pleased if it turns out to be this simple!

Thanks for the reply Lance. I can tell you that the connection on the positive terminal is not super-tight. Although it is firmly attached, it is loose enough that you can turn it around by hand. The clamping mechanism is damaged so it's not possible to make it any tighter by tightening the screw. I'll take another look in the morning and see if I can improve the situation. The terminals are clean and in good condition because the battery is fairly new.

Hi all, I have an IS200 (1999 Sport) that has always been very reliable but has developed an electrical problem that I will try to describe. Yesterday when I sat into the car I turned the key and - absolutely nothing. No dashboard lights, none of the instrument needles moved off their stops, not even a click from the starter. There was a high whine coming from somewhere in the car. Apart from that, it was as if the battery had been completely removed or disconnected. I got out with the intention of looking under the bonnet, then I remembered that I had just used the remote central locking to open the door. I clicked the remote again, the indicators flashed, I sat back in and the car started perfectly. Today my wife called me at work to say that the car was making a funny noise and wouldn't respond to the remote central locking. When I arrived home I sat into the car and once again it was completely "dead". As if the battery had been removed. Except for the red "security" light on the dash and a quiet "beep - beep - beep". I opened the bonnet and the "beep" sound was coming from the fuse and relay box in front of the battery. I guess it is a relay that sounds the horn when the alarm is activated, but the horn itself was silent. Then I touched the live connector on the battery and suddenly the car came back to life. The horn started sounding. I turned off the alarm using the key remote, and the car started perfectly. A couple of times in recent weeks while I was driving there was a brief interruption of power that caused the radio to go blank and silent for a second, and caused dashboard lights to come on and in one case, a very brief engine "stutter". I will be very happy and grateful to hear any ideas of what might be going on. Dara