I HAVE A 2003 ES300 LEXUS WHICH RUNS PERFECTLY MOST OF THE TIME. ON OCCASSION I WILL RUN ALL OVER TOWN, COME HOME AND PARK THE CAR AND 20 MIN. LATER I CAN’T START IT. TOOK IT TO A LEXUS DEALER AND HE SAID THE BATTERY TESTED FINE ON ONE TEST AND DEAD ON ANOTHER. I PAID 130. DOLLARS FOR A HIGH QUALITY BATTERY AND THE NEXT WEEK WAS SITTING IN THE CAR LISTENING TO THE RADIO WHILE I CLEANED THE CAR AND THE ELECTICAL SYSTEM KEPT GOING IN AND OUT, THEN QUIT AND THE CAR HAD TO BE JUMPED TO START IT. THIS ONLY HAPPENS SPORADICALLY BUT I AM AFRAID I AM GOING TO BE STRANDED SOMEWHERE WHEN IT SUDDENLY WON’T START.
WE LIVE IN A VERY WARM CLIMATE, S.C. AND IT WAS VERY HOT THAT DAY. WOULD THAT HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH IT? WHAT IS WRONG WITH MY LEXUS?
This kind of problem usually takes some serious hands on troubleshooting. Even then it can be very difficult because its intermittent. But I’ll try a few suggestions. First thing that comes to mind is the battery cable terminals, but when they put in the new battery, they should have cleaned them and made sure they were tight. The + cable will either have a plastic cover that has several wires coming out of it that are bolted to the terminal attached to the battery, this bolt may have come loose and the “technician” that installed the battery may not have noticed it. On some models, the + cable only has one wire and it goes to a “breakout box” or terminal box, there could be one or more loose connections in it.
A four year old car should not have had any major work done to it, but a loose ground connection that often results from a motor replacement or such could also cause these problems. Toyota uses redundant (multiple) ground straps between the engine block and the chassis of the and I would check these, but I’d be very surprised if any were loose. I would also check the - cable where it attaches to the block for a good connection.
The next thing would be the main current limiting fuse for a hairline crack or a poor connection on one of its terminals. It won’t be blown, if it was, your problem would not be intermittent and would be an easy find.
You could also have a defective starter, but that should not cause the radio to go out. I really thing the problem is in a loose connection, and with so many things affected, it would be either a ground or in the main power distribution circuit near the battery.
BTW, you probably would have needed a new battery soon, a 4 year old battery in a hot climate is pretty much near the end of its life, so that was not a bad investment and was a logical first choice. $130 is a premium battery indeed though.
Well the first thing wrong with it is that it has a stuck CAP LOCK KEY CAUSING ALL CAPS. You might want to get that fixed first, it makes it sound like you are screaming and it is hard for most people to read.
Other than that I think Keith covered it well.