My '08 TL has 34,000 miles. Battery was replaced by dealer seven months ago under warranty. Left car sit in garage from Wednesday night before Thanksgiving. Was just slightly hard to start on Friday evening, and then didn't try to use again 'til midday Sunday. Wouldn't start, wouldn't turn over, wouldn't even make clicking sound - zilch. Put on charger for 12 hours, started fine on Monday, took to dealer and left there. They tried to drain battery, but unsuccessful - couldn't make it run down even leaving lights on. Charging system and battery passed all tests three times. Everybody's befuddled. Anybody out there have a similiar situation or a suggestion?

 

Hands free Link drain??

 

Sounds like it.

 

Does the hands free work? If not, then this could very well be your issue. If it is under warranty, have it replaced. Pull the #6 fuse in the car and see if it drains still - if so, then it is not the hands free.

Did you drive it around on Friday, or just start it? If you drove it any kind of distance, then it sounds like your alt isn't getting a charge to your battery. This is common on older cars and can be either bad connection (rust, loose, etc.) or simply a bad cable (don't underestimate a bad cable - it can happen). To test this, the dealer would need to test the alt running at the battery through the wiring, and not using a machine with the alternator connectors (not sure what they use).

What kind of dealer cannot make the battery run down by leaving the lights on? My kids can get this to work every time.

 

Thanks for the reply. Drove it only for a short distance on Friday to/from one-stop shopping errand two miles away. Started fine at the destination to return home but then wouldn't start at all on Sunday. Dealer service said they left lights on six hours and car still started. Hands free remote was checked, found not to be the problem. Battery connections are spotless but will find out if dealer service checked cables as you suggested. Picked up car this morning, made a half-dozen local stops and two 25-mile trips to/from a meeting. Started each time flawlessly. What am I missing?

 

Is your outside temperature display showing "---" (flatlined)? If so, this will drain your battery in a matter of days (3 to 5 days, a week at the most). Here is something else I have heard but about which I have not personal knowledge or experience.

When you arrive home and turn off your engine, if your cell phone has been on, the hands free link will still be active as long as it can still "sense" your phone. If you leave your phone on as you go into your house and you do not turn your phone off, the connection to your HFL in your car continues to remain on. If you use your cell phone, the HFL wakes up and operates, then when you hang up, it remains on, waiting to be used again. The remedy is to turn off you phone when you arrive home to force the HFL to drop.

Again, I don't know if this is exactly right as I have never experimented with it (I always turn my cell phone off when leaving my car). Try what I suggested to see if that is the culprit.

 

^^^^If your cell phone never travels more than 30ft from your car after you get home, then it will likely stay connected via bluetooth, causing the HFL in the car to remain on. The HFL causes a 200mA drain and can drain the battery overnight. So far, it sounds like this only happens in your garage/at home so it could indeed be the cell phone not disconnecting from the HFL....

I'd like to know exactly how the dealer did their so called check of the HFL. Ask them and see what they say. It's a $400 part and they are widely known to be of poor design and defective. The dealer is probably trying to avoid the issue. (Yeah, I trust dealer service departments about as far as I can throw them).

I'd try (as recommended earlier by JDA) pulling the #6 fuse overnight and see what happens. You can also disconnect the HFL via the connector rather than pull the fuse, but the fuse is easiest.

 

hm..i'm the second owner, never activated the hfl. is it on and draining the battery?

 

Let me clarify: First, ensure your phone is indeed disconnecting from the HFL overnight. If the battery is then still draining overnight, then try the fuse #6 procedure.

 

I know it is a pain, but I would keep a log of what the battery voltage is when you park the car and then again before you start it. Do you have a digital multi meter (DMM)? They are like $10 if you don't.

You can use this log compared with trends to see if you can figure something out. If you see the voltage below 9 or 10 when you are getting ready to leave, then I would not get too far from home.

 

If the voltage drops that low, chances are the engine won't even start.