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Please HELP!!! IS-F won't start.!?

20701 Views 37 Replies 8 Participants Last post by  FRacer83
I drove the car less than 8 hours ago. Car started right up, no problems. Didnt drive it hard or abnormally. No lights or anything powered was left on. I came back down to start it and the dome lights and instrument panel display lights up and I can hear the fuel pump priming... However nothing else seems to work. The navi, dc outlets, etc do not come one and the starter does not attempt to crank. The keyfob doesnt seem to work right either. I hit unlock and it beeps twice but the locks do not move. The lock button does nothing... Except a long beep will be sounded from the car when the lock button is held on the keyfob. The rear trunk release is unresponsive from either the keyfob or exterior button. I tried to troubleshoot by hooking another car up by jumper cables and by unplugging the battery and then pressing the brake pedal to drain all power, reconnecting and attempting to start... Still no change. Could this still be a battery problem or is this most likely some sort of electrical/ecu problem? Any help would be greatly appreciated as my car is stuck in my garage and I have to work in the morning. Any ideas/suggestions? Thanks
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Sounds like a dead battery. Also, did you try pushing the push start button with the fey fob? You have to do this if the battery in the fob dies to get the car to start.
Thanks for responding. I tried that, along with holding it next to the start/stop button for 10 secs. Nothing.
Dumb question - is it in Park? Also, check fuses.
Yes... It's in Park. It won't shift to anything else. Checked all the fuses today. I don't know what to do. I'm thinking it has to be a malfunction with the engine immobilizer or smart key recognition. I also tried with both smart keys. Still nothing. I can't get the light to turn from amber to green on the start/stop button.
I still would pull the battery out and take it to Autozone to test if you have not done so already. I have seen cars to some crazy stuff once the voltage dropped low enough.
Sounds like that's really my only option being that the service dept at the Lexus dealer is closed today. As an interesting side note. I recently bought the car a few months ago and the day I purchased it, right before I got it in my possession the battery was replaced by Lexus under warranty. You think the battery couldve gone bad that quickly on a car that's driven daily? Furthermore... 8 hours prior with zero problems?
Sounds like that's really my only option being that the service dept at the Lexus dealer is closed today. As an interesting side note. I recently bought the car a few months ago and the day I purchased it, right before I got it in my possession the battery was replaced by Lexus under warranty. You think the battery couldve gone bad that quickly on a car that's driven daily? Furthermore... 8 hours prior with zero problems?
I have seen battery's go bad in days..Given the quality of these cars and the fact that it worked fine the day before, I would think it is the battery. They can sit on the shelves for years so just because you just had it put in does not mean it is "new" or "fresh".

I have had had battery issues before where I bought a brand new one to try and fix a problem, move on to change the alternator and starter only to circle back around and find that my new battery was dead too...
^^^^ WOW... Terrible Stroke of Bad Luck!
As an interesting side note. I recently bought the car a few months ago and the day I purchased it, right before I got it in my possession the battery was replaced by Lexus under warranty.
Do you know why the battery was replaced? That sounds fishy - like there is an unresolved problem draining the battery.:confused:
I was thinking the same thing. However, my rec 30k mile service coming up says to replace the battery. I'll prob do that tomorrow. No... I don't know why but I wish I did.
**UPDATE**

So I came home from work prepared to take the battery somewhere to get it tested... The car starts right up. I'm at a complete loss here. I didn't do anything different from how I left it when I tried starting it last night. WTF??? Now I'm worried my car is just going to decide not to start on me somewhere. The situation is over but I'm worried the problem still exists. I don't understand at all what the hell happened.
Clean your battery terminals and tighten the cables down real good.
Again... The battery is pretty much new. Connections are tight, terminals are clean. I am just really worried this will happen again. I really want to know why the reason for it doing that was. I'm pretty good with cars. I've never experienced anything like this. Which makes mr believe it's something with the computer. Idk
http://www.startmeup2.com/index.html or something similar. At least you won't be stuck out in the boonies.
I'm at a loss as to what it could have been. My first guess would be something with the battery, either it was low or connection was bad. Something electrical could have warmed up to the point that it went to a safety mode until it had a chance to reset. I had kinda the same problem with my boat last year. I went back a day later and everything worked just fine with no problems since.

If you figure it out let us know, otherwise enjoy the fact that it is working.
I am very relieved it's working. I will definitely post again if I figure out what the problem was. I had the battery tested at Autozone just to make sure. They said the battery is "strong". So, as I believed it was something else. Had to be the smartkey malfunctioning or maybe the computer went nuts. Idk
Did it happen in a place where you have been parked before? It could be some signal jamming from antennas or high voltage lines around
Did it happen in a place where you have been parked before? It could be some signal jamming from antennas or high voltage lines around
This is another good point. I have problems when I park near the transmitters on the base, but normally all I have to do is put the FOB next to the starter switch and it works.
I've had a similar situation happen to me. I have an Iphone4 and when my phone is in the same pocket as the key fob it wont unlock the doors or start the car until I take either the key fob out or the phone. Hope this helps
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