It wasn't cheap. It was $125 from AutoZone with my discount because of warranty, which I wanted if it is a common issue going out. It makes sense it could also be the security system acting up as well, but I cannot find anywhere, a new module or what it would take to swap and test that theory as well. As for the dome light, that makes the least sense given that it is just a simple set-up for power, but I could be wrong. I will also look into that as well further down the road.
Dead Battery (3x in 2mths) - 30A BAT Fuse has 500mA draw - what next?
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for me the dome light makes sense. as i think ive explained somewhere in this thread ive got the overhead dvd. thing about overhead dvd is it is not installed at the factory, instead its installed at the dealership so they tampered with the wiring so it's not surprising if something got mucked up during install that could have led to a draw. and in my case i have pretty much no issues as long as the fome light is off.
Do you have a part number for the switch? Is it the entire headlight stalk on the left side column? Is it an easy DIY?
http://www.autozone.com/electrical-...8-cylinders-t-4-7l-efi-dohc/362127_0_0_16243/
This is the exact switch I used. You can find them on RockAuto for substantially cheaper, but the warranty isn't lifetime.
Install was super easy. There was a bolt on the bottom of the column, then you have to turn the wheel left a 1/4 turn to reveal another mounting bolt and remove it, the turn the wheel to the right, same position to remove the same bolt but on the other side. Those are what are holding the steering column shroud. You will have to adjust it up and down and pry at the two pieces to remove it since its a pain, but ones that is off, I believe there were 4 bolts holding the switch in. 2 are on the side and are easy to remove. The other two are in the front and will require turning the wheel to get to. Once they are out, turn the truck off, unplug the switch and slide it out. Install is reverse obviously. Took me about 10 minutes total to do it as I was figuring things out. I can take pics if anyone needs them and do a DIY as well. LMK.
This is the exact switch I used. You can find them on RockAuto for substantially cheaper, but the warranty isn't lifetime.
Install was super easy. There was a bolt on the bottom of the column, then you have to turn the wheel left a 1/4 turn to reveal another mounting bolt and remove it, the turn the wheel to the right, same position to remove the same bolt but on the other side. Those are what are holding the steering column shroud. You will have to adjust it up and down and pry at the two pieces to remove it since its a pain, but ones that is off, I believe there were 4 bolts holding the switch in. 2 are on the side and are easy to remove. The other two are in the front and will require turning the wheel to get to. Once they are out, turn the truck off, unplug the switch and slide it out. Install is reverse obviously. Took me about 10 minutes total to do it as I was figuring things out. I can take pics if anyone needs them and do a DIY as well. LMK.
Interesting. I don't have the DVD player, but I will take apart the dome light and see if I can find anything goofy looking that could cause a draw. I will also prob put in an LED while I am at it lol.
Ok, a bit of an update on my situation. In spite of setting my auto headlight switch to off and all the interior lights to off, my battery is still drawing current and is dead within 48 hours of shutting the LC off. It's an OEM True Start installed about 6 months ago.
So today I took the LC into an automotive diagnostic shop that specializes in this sort of thing. They discovered the 500 mA draw on the BAT fuse. The BAT fuse leads to 3 more fuses - ECU, DOME, and RADIO. In my case, when the RADIO fuse was removed, so too was the draw. On this circuit is the radio, nav, amplifier, cd, and hvac controls. The only way to find out definitely what's causing the drag was to remove the entire dash and start unplugging one control at a time.
I didn't have the time for them to go that far so they played around a bit and discovered when they removed the CD cassette under the arm rest, the draw went away. So, they put back the RADIO fuse and left the CD cassette out and I'll leave the truck over the weekend and we'll see if that's indeed the cause?
So today I took the LC into an automotive diagnostic shop that specializes in this sort of thing. They discovered the 500 mA draw on the BAT fuse. The BAT fuse leads to 3 more fuses - ECU, DOME, and RADIO. In my case, when the RADIO fuse was removed, so too was the draw. On this circuit is the radio, nav, amplifier, cd, and hvac controls. The only way to find out definitely what's causing the drag was to remove the entire dash and start unplugging one control at a time.
I didn't have the time for them to go that far so they played around a bit and discovered when they removed the CD cassette under the arm rest, the draw went away. So, they put back the RADIO fuse and left the CD cassette out and I'll leave the truck over the weekend and we'll see if that's indeed the cause?
Update:
The switch wasn't it. I am not mad because I needed it anyhow. Bad though, is after a week locked, lights on auto and dome light on door, it died. However, thanks to the above post, I intend to remove the factory stereo for a while and see what happens. It also makes sense that it could be the HVAC controls because mine are very finicky and work randomly. May order one of those as well and see what happens.
The switch wasn't it. I am not mad because I needed it anyhow. Bad though, is after a week locked, lights on auto and dome light on door, it died. However, thanks to the above post, I intend to remove the factory stereo for a while and see what happens. It also makes sense that it could be the HVAC controls because mine are very finicky and work randomly. May order one of those as well and see what happens.
I'm having a similar problem with my GX470. Posting here because it's got the same engine as the 100 series and this thread has been going for a while.
I've gone through 3 batteries in less than a year. The first two were Duralast Platinum AGM batteries, each each lasted less than two months. I used a Duralast Gold most recently because I read that the OEM alternator can't charge AGM batteries properly. The most recent battery lasted from August 2014 until yesterday when I got back from a week long trip and found the battery totally dead, at 1.8 volts. Charging system tests ok according to AAA.
I've disconnected power to the dealer installed DVD player. There is no other aftermarket wiring that I'm aware of.
One thing I haven't seen mentioned re. the auto headlights is that in the owner's manual, for the 2004 GX anyway, it says not to leave it on auto if parked for an extended period of time because it will drain the battery. Might be similar on the 100 series.
I've gone through 3 batteries in less than a year. The first two were Duralast Platinum AGM batteries, each each lasted less than two months. I used a Duralast Gold most recently because I read that the OEM alternator can't charge AGM batteries properly. The most recent battery lasted from August 2014 until yesterday when I got back from a week long trip and found the battery totally dead, at 1.8 volts. Charging system tests ok according to AAA.
I've disconnected power to the dealer installed DVD player. There is no other aftermarket wiring that I'm aware of.
One thing I haven't seen mentioned re. the auto headlights is that in the owner's manual, for the 2004 GX anyway, it says not to leave it on auto if parked for an extended period of time because it will drain the battery. Might be similar on the 100 series.
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- #89
Not familiar with the GX options - does yours have an overhead entertainment unit? If so, at least on the LX model that was not from the factory, that required dealership installation and they would pull down the second row overhead light and rewire and add in the entertainment unit. When I shut off my second row lights the problem seems to go away. Is that relevant to your situation?
If you're looking for root cause, you'll probably want to monitor draw as you pull fuse by fuse to identify the issue. Or have an expert do this.
Thank you for pointing this out, it made me go check out a couple more things. I do have the overhead entertainment unit, appears to be dealer installed. The model is Concept CM-701N, the DVD player is in the glovebox and the flip down LCD is installed in place of the second row dome light. I had disconnected power to the DVD player last year but had left the power connected to the overhead LCD / domelight thinking that as long as the lights were off it would be ok.
I had a close look at the overhead LCD this afternoon and realized that even thought the dome lights were off, there was a stuck button on the LCD screen that would power up the display randomly even if the ignition switch was off and the LCD was folded up. I could see a faint glow from the IR LEDs along the rear edge of the unit, I think they are for the headphones, but it was easy to see that it had power when it wasn't supposed to.
I took the overhead LCD off the ceiling, disconnected the power wire, and put it back up until I can find a stock dome light to replace it with. Hopefully it's that simple but I will update if I find out more or if the battery dies again in a couple months.
Just wanted to provide an update. My parasitic battery draw was caused by the CD player. However, ejecting the 6 disk magazine was not sufficient to remove the draw. Unplugging the CD player from the radio finally removed the draw once and for all. I let the LC sit for a week with a battery only 50% charged and it started right up. Prior to this, it would be dead in 24 hrs. Put the priority start I purchased back on the shelf. Hope this helps others.
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- #92
Very good to hear you identified the source.
Fwiw, imo Priority Start still doesn't hurt and might be worth keeping on if it keeps you from getting stranded when you least expect it...
Fwiw, imo Priority Start still doesn't hurt and might be worth keeping on if it keeps you from getting stranded when you least expect it...
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- #94
I was going to say I'm quite confident it's not the cd player. I have multiple discs in there and listen to them frequently and since I've shutoff the second row overhead lights I haven't had issues in what feels like years. So pretty certain it's not my cd player and that instead it's something related to the overhead wiring. I'm in the middle of some suspension and maintenance related projects but once all that stuff is off the list I'll probably revisit this down the line.
Are you saying you have an aux 6 disc changer or your in dash CD player? If it was the in dash, I have no issues with buying a new double din Alpine....my stereo needs some work anyway!
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- #98
Figure out as in resolve? Nope. As I've explained though, when i leave my second row overhead lights permanently off I don't have any drain issues. My theory is that since mine has the dealer installed overhead dvd and from tsb description of that install they tie the overhead dvd into lighting wiring, i believe the install was botched or at least sloppy and maybe there's a wiring issue there that only manifests when the lights are set to on with the door... Haven't dug in deeper - since i no longer have the issue bc i leave the light off and since i have a prioritystart so i never drain below starting power it's been low on ky todo list 
but in principle it bothers me so i'll pick it up some time down the line and see if i can resolve it once and for all.
but in principle it bothers me so i'll pick it up some time down the line and see if i can resolve it once and for all.
RND1, I haven't had my cruiser long, and I am having a parasitic battery drain. It is pulling .5A on the 30A batt fuse
like yours was. I was informed the car used to have a remote car starter that was disabled and it also has a NAV unit from Lexus I think because it starts up and shows lexus on the screen. Not sure where to start but I'm wondering if maybe the factory NAV went bad and they found a LX470 one from a junkyard or something, I am hoping that maybe they just wired something wrong but it does work properly. Do you know how many milliamps is considered the correct draw, I am also going to try to eject the CD changer to see if that helps. Thanks
like yours was. I was informed the car used to have a remote car starter that was disabled and it also has a NAV unit from Lexus I think because it starts up and shows lexus on the screen. Not sure where to start but I'm wondering if maybe the factory NAV went bad and they found a LX470 one from a junkyard or something, I am hoping that maybe they just wired something wrong but it does work properly. Do you know how many milliamps is considered the correct draw, I am also going to try to eject the CD changer to see if that helps. Thanks
Updates:
I have pulled my stock stereo out entirely and will be paying attention to it all week. I plan to charge the battery today and see if it changes anything. It has become beyond frustrating to deal with on a daily basis having to wait for the battery to engage...
I have pulled my stock stereo out entirely and will be paying attention to it all week. I plan to charge the battery today and see if it changes anything. It has become beyond frustrating to deal with on a daily basis having to wait for the battery to engage...
