Sc430 Battery Problem (2003)

[pamela]

I bought new 2003 SC430 June 2003. The car has to be jumped on a regular basis. Nothing is left on, no doors left open. Car is just dead for no apparent reason. Battery eventually will not re-charge. Finally, dealership replaced Battery in Jan. 2004. Now, replaced that battery June 2004. Car has 6900 miles. They are telling me nothing is wrong with electrical system. They say I do not have enough miles on it to keep the battery from draining. r they kidding? Anyone have any idea what could be wrong with this car??

[markham51]

I have same problem with mine but I only drive it 2k mi per year and it sits around alot. I have to boost it everytime I leave it for a couple of weeks unused....

[UCF3]

The only drain I can think off is the Alarm, and usually the battery dies after a couple of months of not starting the car.

Pam:

Not sure what's going on with your car. I'll have to ask some of the guys at work, and reply back. It could be a bad alternator or bad ECU all together, but that;s a wild guess.

[soarer479]

i agree with ucf3 i would think its a problem with ur alternator you should have that checked out as well

[pamela]

According to the dealership, they checked the alternator in Jan, and there is nothing wrong with it. Yesterday,they did the 5000 mile check up,and say again, nothing is wrong. This car doesn't sit for long periods undriven. Could there be a short somewhere that they aren't picking up? They mentioned I should get a trickler, but seems to me they should be able to find the problem. No? thanks guys!

Pamela

[wandawoods]

how long does the lemon law statue apply in FL? u may want to consider it.... a brand new car shouldn't act like that! all the battery replacements done by dealer are part of the permanent record follows the car, and it can hurt ur resale value later on.

[SKperformance]

you might have a trunk light not turning off

do you have any aftermarket tihings like an alarm or tv?

[sightdev]

I have a good faith in Lexus dealers so here is IMO; if you drive the car few times a month (more than 20 minutes at a time), the battery should be able to charge up preventing failure with stock SC. Second, do you have after market alarm system? I have seen many after market alarms drain battery quickly (within one week or less). So here is a recommendation, turn off your alarm (factory and after market) and see what happens. Battery on Lexus is high capacity battery so it can take some drainage but all typical auto batteries are no good once the plates inside dry up from complete drainage.

[wandawoods]

perhaps this is only unique to SC430!? I also heard like some late model MB S-class has the similar problem.

my 96 SC400 also is driven little (3k miles in last 10-month, and that's just about true for all 7 cars I have), and we always park with stock alarm on. this condition never happens to us.

anyway, don't let it sit there longer than 10-days may be a good ideal.

[pamela]

No aftermarket anythings on this car. I didn't even know the car had an alarm. Have never heard it go off. It doesn't sit more than a few days without being driven. There is no indication that any lights are left on. They told me to turn off the automatic headlights, because they drain power, but it seems ridiculous to me not to be able to use a feature of the car. I liked that feature! Not sure how the lemon law works, but there must be somebody I can contact or something that can be done. :(

[SKperformance]

call lexus head office

if the dealer wont help

you didn;t buy a chrysler it should act like one

it needs a good load test and drain test to verify where the excessive drain is coming from

[wandawoods]

pamela,

this is definetly abnormal!

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-...G=Google+Search

google search for florida lemon law

florida lemon law itself (good for 24-month after purchase):

http://www.yourlemonlawrights.com/state_laws/Florida.htm

[pamela]

actually, I am in Ca

[wandawoods]

stand corrected!

for CA lemon law, 18 months from delivery to the buyer or 18,000 miles on the odometer of the vehicle:

http://www.yourlemonlawrights.com/state_la....htm#Lemon-Laws

[splipp]

I too bought a new 2003 SC430 in June of 2003 and have 11,800 miles on it. I live in southern Florida where the constant heat is actually a bigger drain than cold weather, but have had no problem. A number of my friends and neighbors drive the SC's too, and none hav had any problems. I concur with the writers who tell you to 1) invoke California's strong lemon law, and 2) immedatley contact Lexus top Zone people or the U.S. Lexus distributor which is based in Margate, Florida and operates JM Lexus in Margate as its primary dealership.

Good luck!!

[pamela]

I couldn't find the US distributor in Fl, but I did find the customer service assistence program for Lexus located in Torrance, CA. I live in CA. I am going to contact them tomorrow. If you can believe this, I just received a phone message from the Lexus dealership to tell me that I will be receiving a survey asking what kind of service I got at the dealership, and the service writer wanted to remind me to be sure I gave them 100%!!!! OMG. What planet are these people on? I'll let you guys know what happens when I contact customer svc .

[SkyScout]

This comes from another forum source:

"Turn off the automatic light switch. The one that controls the headlights. Our

dealership told us that that has a constant draw on the battery. Since we
turned it off, no issues"

I have an SC430 2006 - today with 22,000 miles on (I purchased new). Obviously I dont drive it very much. I've always had battery issues - even at the beginning, when I did drive it at least 3 times a week.

I have NOT yet tried the above suggested remedy.

But I will. Question is: "How to turn off the automatic light switch that controls the headlights?"

Is that the same as the switch on the headlight stick? - I always turn that down to OFF when I am not driving - along with the the A/C to OFF as well.

Good luck all!

[zilch]

A competent mechanic should be able to connect a tester that will show battery drain with everything turned off. My guess is that something is pulling current. If you can't find the problem and fix it, there are a couple of solutions. Wirthco Engineering has both of them covered. (wirthco.com)

They sell smart chargers that you can keep hooked up to maintain a charge....they even have solar models if that is necessary. The second solution that they offer is a battery disconnect switch. The downside of that is that you might lose your vehicle memory if disconnected too long. The Wirthco solution is not a great one.

Find the mechanic that can get the job done on the short that is taking down your battery.

[Mediator]

I had the same problem so I choose to turn the overhead lights off completely so that at night when I open the doors the only lights on are the floor interior lights that seemed to help the problem. Drain from the interior lights so how.

[Philiptou]

I have the battery drain problem on my 2001 sc430. After I removed the Radio#1 30A fuse, I can start the car even it has been siting still for more than 20 days now. It looks the ML Amplifier drains the battery while the car is not running. I need instructions to take the amp out for inspection.

[jeffreyt]

I recently joined your forum to pick some brains on a suspension issue and could not help noticing this thread.

This problem drives us crazy over here in England as well and nobody seems to have got to the bottom of of it although all the same suspects have come up for discussion.

Dealers just deny there is a problem and blame poor battery condition /lack of use which is obviously bull....

If I don't use the car for more than 3 days I disconnect the battery.That is the only way I have found of being certain of a good start.

My battery has a life of 10 days at most ( less in winter) when standing idle.