My 2000 RX-300 is about four and a half years old and has gone about 28,000 miles. It's been flawless and I want continued reliability. Rather than wait for the battery to die, I'd like to anticipate the failure by replacing it. I'm open to suggestions as to the best brand to replace it with. I had a Diehard as a replacement in a previous car and it failed at about 28 months. Any advice or suggestions?
Bob in Atlanta
You can always have it tested - I wouldn't buy a battery at 28,000 miles as a preventive measure. I just traded in my '01 IS300 with
56,000 miles and it never had a battery problem.DaveW
If you change the battery -- don't forget the radio code. Hope you have that written down somewhere.
I would. Calendar time and sitting discharged are the killers for battery life, not miles. Anything beyond four years and you're living on borrowed time - it could go another year or three, but it could easily fail the next time you leave the dome light on a half hour or the temps drop. Replacing at four years, especially in a cold climate and/or when the car sits at the airport for a week or two now and then, is prudent.
Consumer Reports occasionally rates batteries - I think they liked Exide the last time I checked. At one time, Delco were considered the best. It's probably at the point where you might as well buy on price - they're probably all about the same and I wouldn't be surprised if most brands come from the same factory. So if it were my car, I'd head for the nearest AutoZone, Schucks, and buy what is on sale.
- Mark
Does the RX300 uses radio security code? I bought mine used, and the original owner doesn't know. And I can't find anything about it in the manual neither.
If there is no documentation of it in the manual and the original paperwork for the car didn't include a card or something with the code, then I doubt it had it originally.
- Mark
Thanks to everyone for the good advice. I checked with the dealer on the radio code, they said if I didn't enter one, there is no radio code, the regard it as outmoded "not current practice". I'll replace the battery next week.
I think that when the dealer replaces the battery, they have a little temporary power supply they clip onto the battery leads so that when the battery is removed, the radio does not lose its pre-sets. I've never seen what they use--perhaps battery dealers have something similar.
The last battery we had in our LS400 was a Delco. It lasted 6 years in Michigan.
Check Consumer Reports to see which brand is most likely to serve you well. I recall that the Costco house brand performed very well and was inexpensive.
Previously in alt.autos.lexus, "GRL" proclaimed :
get an Odyssey and be done with it. They've been my replacement battery of choice for my cars/suv's and motorcycles. Never had one go bad/dead on me...ever.
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