Okay so last night I was bored and sat in the car. The car has been in the garage for days without use so I wanted to heat up the engine a little bit. After about ten minutes the heat gauge was in the middle so I turned off the engine. I was still listening to music and had the headlights on (stupid me!) and so after awhile the battery failed. This has happened to me before several months ago and it was fixed with a battery jump start.

I didn't have the equipment to do it, so I went to sleep. I told my mom about it and this morning she was able to start the car! How could this have happened? Can someone explain to me the consequences of leaving the headlights on without the engine being turned on?

And as to the problem now, the gas tank gauge is on empty despite the fact it has not been driven and last night it was shown to be a little above the halfway mark. Could the battery be playing a role in this, as a sort of malfunction or misreading? Is the gas tank really empty (Don't know how that is possible) or what?

I don't want to fill it up with gas and end up topping it off because it actually wasn't empty.

I need help please!

 

1. Doesn't your car automatically turn off the headlamps after 10 minutes when the vehicle is off? If you sat in the garage with the car on, well that's just stupid and dangerous. BTW the best way to have heated up the engine would have been to take it for a spin around the block. You just needlessly wasted gas by idling it but that is a whole other issue.

2. Your battery must have already been low. I have sat in my car with the radio on for over an hour and not killed the battery.

3. Recovery is possible if your battery was just at the cut off level. It would have cut off with you and had enough rest to get it just about the level necessary to perform a start in the morning. It still means your battery is low and needs to be replaced.

4. Just take the car to the gas station and put the nozzle in. If the tank is full the nozzle will shut off right away with no damage. If it doesn't, well then you needed some gas.

5. Why did you have the headlamps on in the garage again?

You don't mention how old the battery is. Are you still on the original Panasonic battery from your '05? I have an '04 and just recently replaced my battery. The secondhand battery I bought is much better than the original.

Just my .

 

I had the headlights on because I wanted to see the interior light up (yes, stupid). And I've only had the car for 4 months and it is almost never used. It probably still is on the OEM '05 battery. However it still has a little less than 9,000 miles on it.

By the way, a yellowish dot appears in the gas gauge. Does that mean anything?

 

The yellow dot means u are low on fuel... at least thats what the dot is for on my TL

 

Well...how the heck did I run out of gas without even driving the car?

 

I've seen the opposite of this, having no fuel (with the warning light on) and restarting the car 5-6 times resets the fuel guage until I start moving again.

 

i guess im still confused as to why the headlights were on, you said you wanted to see the interior lights but everytime i turn my headlights on the interior lights dim, regardless of that you can still turn the lights all the way up and all the way down with the lights both on and off, the headlights do not limit the interior lights at all.
the yellow dot means that the engine is low on fuel and you have like 2 or 3 gallons left i think, this is the same for every other car built today that i know of it either has a yellow dot or a low fuel light.

if you do not drive your car much than take it out every once in a while, run to the grocery store or do some errands with it, it is going to be a whole lot more helpful for your car than just sitting in the garage and letting it idle, you will allow the engine to really work and shift through all the gears and get everything moving.
you should take your car for a drive once you read this again, once you do this you should stop by a gas station and put premium gas in it(which you should be doing regardless) just to fill it up, your gas tank is not going to overflow or anything, not sure what exactly you meant by not wanting to top it off if it wasnt empty, is there some reason you dont want to do this? its not going to hurt your car...

drive your car for 15 minutes, if you still have problems come back and post

 

i can see why his lights are on, he jsut didn't turn it off cause he wanted his radio on but wanted the lights dimmed for whatever reason. I had it happen to my by accident helping a friend on the road. I couldn't start the car cause i left the lights on thinking it would be quick, 20 mins past and i cant turn on my car. But 2 mins later, enought juiice rejuvinated and it works. I don't think you have to replace the battery. Just drive it around and it'll charge back up. Theres a meter in the battery on top. Drive it for like 1/2 - 1 tank and then check it. If tis back to normal you're fine, if not then get it replaced.

 

Yeah I drove it around for about 30 minutes. The gas gauge went back to where it was (minus the fuel used). The computer was simply confused because of how the battery died out on me. I also couldn't use the auto-up on the window for a few minutes but then it was fixed again.

And no I can't take my car out because all I have is a permit (license in 2 months). So the only time it gets driven is if my mom has time to do it.

 

i guess im still confused, in my 04 tsx i can dim the interior lights without turning the lights on, but i have a navi, i guess i didnt think about it till now but youre probably talking about the radio and whatever else is there instead of the navi(i dont know what it looks like w/o navi) so that probably makes sense now. if you have been using the radio and headlights with the car turned off than its always a good idea to turn off radio and headlights and any other accessories running off the battery and then starting the car, as the direct full battery to the starter.

 

Please tell me you had the garage door opened. 10 mins isnt that long, but thats a pretty good way to die from carbon monoxide.

I'm not sure if non-navi's (dont know what you have) require you to put in a code like the navi's do on battery disconnects/discharges. But if this didnt happen, then you never ran out of juice, at least not fully.

 

Seriously, just go get some fuel!

bonn, bonn, bonn, you can press those interior lights to make them stay on you know.
if you want the gauges to light you DO NOT need to have the headlights on just turn the key to II.

and please don't let me hear on the KTVU2 local news "Daly city boy sufficates...." running car in a closed garage? C'MON man. wise up!

 

a car that has been sitting in the car for some months will cause your gas to evaporate. Since you haven't driven your car for a while, your ECU was trying to adjust to its settings.

 

i don't know about the other questions but if you fill it up with gas the pump will automatically shut off when it is full so you don't have to worry about topping off.

 

Here's another FYI: