Have a 2017 Toyota Camery, the problem is when the engine si turned off and left for 6 or 7 days the battery goes dead. This has happened 5 times and each time it was toed or the battery was jumped. After each occurrence it was toed to the dealership where it was purchased but no problems were found. They replaced the battery, to no evail, say they checked the electrical system and could fined nothing wrong. I found one thing, I locked the car in my garage and the battery didn’t discharge, can you shed any light on what’s going on? HELP, HELP, HELP
So the 5 times it DID discharge, it was parked where? In the driveway?
So where about’s do you live?? What’s the weather like, and evening or daytime temperature?? The colder a vehicle IS - the harder it is for the battery (which is also COLD) to release energy. The warmer a battery is (and the car) - the easier it is for a battery to release energy - and a warm vehicle requires less energy to activate the starter motor.
Was/Is your Garage Warmer than the Outside?? And why did you park it outside most times, and than park it inside?? Had you been making more short trips (not sufficient battery recharge time) when you parked it outside?
And a 2017 vehicle has a BUNCH of battery discharge features. The computer is never really ‘off’ - and the alarm system is always on (especially when parked); the clock, etc. ALL of these things are consuming battery energy store reserves. And when you drive it - are you driving it sufficient to recharge the battery?? Those few moments when you are starting the car - the vehicle is drawing MORE amps - than your entire house service. Frequent starts and not sufficient charge/run time - depletes a battery.
PLUS - a car battery discharges itself - just sitting. Even with NOTHING hooked up to it. This is because it will go totally and completely DEAD in around 2-3 months - if not charged. The battery internally sulfates; and self discharges. So routinely only driving your car once a week or so - is not good at all for your battery’s health - unless you are than driving it for quite a while - to allow the alternator to fully recharge the battery. Once a week drive, and a short trip - are not good at all… Anyway - take a look at your situation; and consider the various battery facts and requirements - which will probably let you know what is going on… A fully charged battery - just left totally to itself for one month - will not be fully charged at the end of a month - because of sulfation and self discharge. And your battery is in a car not being driven very much - but does have a constant load being placed on it.
Drive this car…don’t let it sit for so long.
Have the car checked for paracytic drain. This involves connecting an ammeter and waiting for all the computers to go to sleep. It should be 50 mA or less, which will not drain the battery in 1000 hours, over a month, in theory.
The dealer can do this, it is under warrantee.
If that doesn’t find the problem, and it appears they already tried this… then you have an intermittent problem. Those can be difficult to find.
Try this: after the car has been parked for a few hours, go out at night and see if there are any lights on, like the dome light. You can check the trunk light by opening the trunk and checking the temperature of the light — hot or warm means it was on. ditto for the glove compartment light if you have one.
I had a similar problem which only showed up once a year or so. I finally turned off the dome light, no longer a problem. It had a timer to leave it on for a few minutes after you left the car, but sometimes it was staying on.
edit: you should be able to leave the car OFF for at least 2 weeks, every car I’ve owned. Winter or summer.
Also note that if the battery gets run down totally, if suffers damage. do this a few times and the battery needs to be replaced…
Odd question, is it a push button? Is the button closer to the car in the driveway than in the garage? I wonder could the push button be too close to it causing it to stay in a more “readiness” state?
6 or 7 days is not too long for a car to sit, as long as it’s driven at least a half hour straight thereafter. If it’s only driven a few minutes once a week, then I agree, the battery will die.
Are there any aftermarket accessories, like a remote starter or audio or navigation system? Maybe one installed by the leaseholder, that kind of thing?
One thing I have been seeing a lot of lately is modern cars that have mysterious battery drains going on. A number of those have been attributed to close proximity to the key fobs or some source that keeps waking up the BCM and draining the battery. Moving it indoors might be a clue in this regard as walls could be attenuating that signal. I would think there would be some way to verify if the computer keeps waking up or does not go back to sleep as it should due to interference or your own key fobs causing it.
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I agree. Keep the key fob far away from the car, except when you want to use the car.
My motorcycle gets parked for weeks, even months at a time during winter, and it always starts, and yes, it has a computer and an electric clock.
If it uses the remote key fob method, could be some sort of electronic interference is waking up the computers when it is parked outside. Any big antennas in the area? Like for cell phone transmitters? I doubt that’s the problem, but look upward, you might see the culprit. I’m guessing the inside/outside thing is b/c when it is parked outside, when there’s a gust of wind, or maybe a big truck comes down the street, the door switch is getting jiggled and the computer thinks the door is being opened, so it turns on. Have your shop check the door switches, maybe on of them is on the verge of failing. A systematic monitoring of the battery’s drain current will get to the bottom of this, eventually.
Another idea, the battery isn’t dead, just somewhat discharged, which is normal after a week. And the problem is actually the starter motor is on the fritz.
The door switch on my microwave oven is going bad, and it is causing the opposite problem, turning the oven off in mid-cook.