Hi Scotty,
I recently bought a used 2007 Lexus IS250 6Speed Manual from a private seller and drove it down from Indiana to Michigan. The car ran great and and did not have any issues on the way back. After a couple of days the battery suddenly died and the car would'nt turn ON. I replaced the battery and still nothing happened, even the dash lights wont turn ON. I checked the main fuse and it looks ok. Also the multimeter voltage reading goes down as soon as I connect the battery which means the electricals are drawing power. What could be the problem?
PS: Love your videos and one of the main reasons I went for a Lexus is because you have one as well 🙂
Do you have headlights, horn etc... things that don’t require the key to work? I saw your one comment that said no lights but it wasn’t clear if you were still talking about on the dash or not. If you have nothing at all your main ground could have failed. Or Main Fuse link or main fuse. If you have a meter follow the 12 volts from battery through fuse box. Pull main fuse and put probe on its plug. See if you have 12 volts there.
Also check + - make sure you didn’t get em backwards. Some batteries have them on opposite sides.
Hi Thumpy, thanks for your response, I dont have any response from the car, no headlights, no hazard lights no dash lights nothing. I checked the main fuse and I am getting 12V there, I checked the fuses and none of them have blown out. I am strongly inclined to think that there is a bad ground somewhere in the system since it is a 14 year old car . I checked the main battery ground and it is at the same potential as the negative terminal.
At this point you have no other option but to download a schematic wiring diagram. Follow power through the fusebox and beyond to isolate where the break is.
Please clarify what you mean by turn on. When you turn the key what happens? Does the starter motor crank? See our FAQ for more information, or search Scotty's youtube channel. He's got a few videos about this.
Even after a new battery swap, nothing happens. No lights turn on, no chimes no response from the car.
Hopefully this information helps diagnose the problem
https://carkiller.com/scottykilmer/postid/51956/
Thanks for your response Matt, The car has no electrical power and nothing is working so I am not sure If the starter is the problem.
I did, even that would not work since I am getting no response from the car. Atleast the guy in the video gets a chime and a door ajar light.
If you do not get anything to work on, check the battery connections. Make sure they are tight and clean. Also check the ground wires. Btw, does the remote work?
The remote does not work, I checked the main battery ground it looks good but I am not sure about all the other grounds.
So you do not have any power in the car. If you can not find the issue, have a mechanic check the car.
It sounds like you aren't getting battery voltage through the main fuse bar as nothing provided by that engine compartment fuse box (the one next to the battery) is working.
You may want to look a little deeper there than just at the ALT fuse. (although maybe give that fuse a closer look). Sometimes it's hard to see when it's fried. At my age, looking through that plastic cover, even with my good "readin' specs" on, I'd need a magnifying glass.
So, you didn't make it clear if you had your old battery tested before you replaced it, or if you just (like most people) assumed that the battery was shot when your car wouldn't start and replaced it.
Was this an issue before the new battery (no dash lights or anything) or was it just a problem that the car wouldn't start, and then after replacing the battery you had "bupkis" on all of the other components?
Either way, it may be time to test the voltage going to that engine compartment fuse box.
You'll test it here:
That circled lug provides battery voltage to that main fuse bar.
So, first, you'll want to make sure that you have any battery voltage being supplied there.
Use a test light or multimeter (DC volts, 20 volt range) and confirm that there's battery voltage (12 volts+-) at that lug.
But even if there is, you have to test for voltage drop in the wire/connection that feeds that lug. (this is important, don't ignore it).
Just because that wire and its connections can "trickle" 12 volts through them doesn't mean that they can support a load.
So you'll want to turn the key to "ON" to create a draw on that wire and its connections.
Connect one digital voltmeter probe to the positive terminal on the battery and the other to that lug I have circled, "KEY ON".
Any reading larger than 0.5V DC indicates too much resistance in the circuit between the battery and that lug such as corrosion having worked its way into the wire or a bad/corroded connection.
So then it's just a case of following that wire back to the battery connection and seeing where the issue originates.
In the case below, voltage was measured between the positive and negative terminals of the battery. It had 12.5 volts.
But when voltage drop was measured between the positive battery post and after the wire connection it read 1.5 volts.
So that wire is only delivering (12.5 volts - 1.5 volts = 11 volts) 11 volts to the circuit.
Something, like corrosion in that connection is causing too much resistance.
