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What's normal current when car is turned off? 2009 Lexus RX350 specifically
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not007
New User
Jan 5, 2013, 12:53 PM
Post #1 of 11
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What's normal current when car is turned off? 2009 Lexus RX350 specifically
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I'm wondering if my car battery is dying or there's something else going on.
I left my parking lights on last week, for a few hours. Came back and car would barely crank. Got a jump start but mistakenly put red on black and black on red. Tried to start car and it wouldn't. I look at cables from driver seat and see wisps of smoke. I pull them off and correct mistake. Car starts right away. Next day starts fine. Day after won't start in the am, trickle charged it at night. next day fine, then day after, it needed trickle charger to start in am and a jump leaving work.
Yeah, the battery is a few years old (2009 Lexus bought in June 2008). And I will replace battery, but wanted to see if the reverse polarity hurt somethings. Hooked up ampmeter and initially shows 1.3 amps, but then within a minute it drops to .25amps and stays there.
Is .25amps when the car is off / doors closed / no lights on, the normal draw for what? clock in radio, computer, etc.?
I'm going to start pulling fuses to see if I can get closer to zero as I wait for a reply here, but the fact that it starts at 1.3 and drops over a minute kinda means something is powering up then going into standby / things are normal?
THANKS!
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not007
New User
Jan 5, 2013, 1:19 PM
Post #2 of 11
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Re: What's normal current when car is turned off? 2009 Lexus RX350 specifically
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actually, by the time I did some googling and got back down to the car, the meter was reading 26 on the 200mA setting, which I kept seeing is an OK number for the draw for keyless entry, etc.
So it's just a 4 1/2 year old battery that needs to be replaced I guess?
thanks all for reading this far.
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nickwarner
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/ Moderator
Jan 5, 2013, 3:12 PM
Post #3 of 11
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Re: What's normal current when car is turned off? 2009 Lexus RX350 specifically
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Your draw is normal. Battery should be changed. Consider yourself lucky you didn't fry the ECM when the polarity was reversed. Seen it happen before and it wasn't a cheap fix.
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not007
New User
Jan 5, 2013, 4:02 PM
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Re: What's normal current when car is turned off? 2009 Lexus RX350 specifically
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Thanks for the info.
How about this? Is there gripes / comments about the color coding on the Lexus vehicles? (ours is 2009, so hopefully they changed things).
It's the OEM battery. Someone had sprayed a red spray over each of the 2 terminals. Anti corrosion or something similar? Been there since we got the car and with me doing the current testing, I saw that it was still 'wet' - like a thick grease.
Anyway, 1 of the terminals, spray painted red is exposed. and 1 has a BLACK cover. Lift the black cover and you see the RED sprayed terminal.
And on the BLACK cover is a + sign in a circle - about the size of a quarter, so fairly big.
I'm 50 and jump started cars all my life / way too many times 'cause I'll leave the radio on with the car off / wait till the battery is too old before replacing them. I've never reversed the wires like that before.
I'm thinking I must have seen the exposed spray painted red terminal and put the red cable on it. and the black cover got lifted and got the black cable. WRONG! DOH!
I've seen red covers on the red terminal (and I think most times it's the positive / red terminal that they'd want to cover anyway) on my hondas.
But to have the positive and negative spray painted Red then cover the positive with a black plastic cover (yes, with a + on it) is asking for trouble.
Have you heard of this issue?
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Hammer Time
Ultimate Carjunky
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Jan 5, 2013, 4:17 PM
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Re: What's normal current when car is turned off? 2009 Lexus RX350 specifically
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You never go by color. The positive post is larger than the negative and it's also usually marked.
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We offer help in answering questions, clarifying things or giving advice but we are not a substitute for an on-site inspection by a professional.
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nickwarner
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Jan 5, 2013, 4:22 PM
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Re: What's normal current when car is turned off? 2009 Lexus RX350 specifically
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That red stuff is Permatex battery protector spray that is supposed to help keep moisture from getting at the connection and corroding it. Personally I prefer dielectric grease over the spray. From your description I can see how a mistake could've been made.
Might want to try to not procrastinate on changing a battery when its getting past its prime. It puts extra stress on the alternator and they've gotten much more expensive to replace on these newer vehicles. I put one into a 12 year old minivan that was $200 for a reman. Seen some even more than that. Just something to keep in mind. I'd also recommend using a booster pack versus a set of jumper cables because the jumper cables can induce a sudden voltage spike that can damage electronic modules on newer vehicles. Yes, I'm getting nostalgic about the older systems that were more rugged electrically myself. But thats also something to keep in mind. Its not a frequent occurrence but if it happens to you I assure you the price to repair it will make your wallet burst into tears.
Best of luck with the car, let us know if anything else comes up.
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not007
New User
Jan 5, 2013, 11:10 PM
Post #7 of 11
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Re: What's normal current when car is turned off? 2009 Lexus RX350 specifically
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Nick, you said
Might want to try to not procrastinate on changing a battery when its getting past its prime.
What do you use as a rule of thumb for figuring when a battery is getting past it's prime?
Like a water heater that's warrantied for, say, 12 years. Replace it before that? At that time? After 12 years, when you have (a likely big rather than small) leak : ) ?
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Sidom
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Jan 5, 2013, 11:47 PM
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Re: What's normal current when car is turned off? 2009 Lexus RX350 specifically
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I totally agree with the color coding.......There are some very poor setups out there where if you just try to go with a quick look & logic, you could be in big trouble......It almost seems like they are engineered for that kind of trouble to happen sometimes & then throw in a poorly marked battery with the + & - barely stamped on the battery and with out your reading glasses & you're done......
There is no hard numbers on batterys but it ranges from the 3 to 5 year mark, you do see some going 7 maybe 8 but that is not the norm...Extreme tempature changes will usually take out the marginal batterys. The 1st rash of 100+ or 30- days will and you will see a big jump in battery problems.....There are some signs.....leaving the lights on or playing the radio for short periods then having to jump the car or noticing it cranking a little slower in the morning.....If you start experiencing strange electrical problems and you're in the 4 to 5 year range it's a good idea to start with fresh battery whether it's been showing other signs or not before laying out any money on diagnosising the system....
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nickwarner
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Jan 6, 2013, 7:37 AM
Post #9 of 11
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Re: What's normal current when car is turned off? 2009 Lexus RX350 specifically
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The standard I go by it the load test. A battery at a full 12.6v charge has a load tester put on it. A load of half the CCA rating of the battery is placed on it for 15 seconds, so an 800 CCA batttery gets a 400 amp load. Monitor the voltage during that period. If it drops below 9.6v at any time during that period the battery is deemed bad. Parts stores will test batteries for free, so if you experience the things Sidom mentioned you can always have it checked up at the parts store to confirm or deny that the battery is the issue. So many times a battery has been overlooked during an electrical issue and you'll spend hours chasing ghosts with testing equipment and pulling your hair out when in the end it was just a battery that was marginal. In any electrical problem, confirming a good battery and connections is the first step to diagnosing it.
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Tom Greenleaf
Ultimate Carjunky
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Jan 7, 2013, 8:18 AM
Post #11 of 11
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Re: What's normal current when car is turned off? 2009 Lexus RX350 specifically
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Note on how old for batteries: 4.5 years is enough even when they test well. Lead acid batteries make flakes as they age and with use that has just so much room on bottom for that to collect. If that pile can touch the plates it will kill itself frequently at the worst possible time. - T
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