Yusua Car Battery Problem

[MLW]

2002 LS430.

In May 2020 I bought a 5 year Yusua Battery at Halfords.

All OK for two years (I trickle charge it occasionally to preserve it), then it started to fail. Halfords tested it and said it needed replacing, which they did with the same Battery.

18 months on another failure. Car stood for 2 weeks over Christmas after having done a 100 mile round trip. This time it was so flat the ignition would not work, central looking not working, and I could not get into the boot. My trickle Battery charger said it was faulty and would not accept any charge at all.

Off to Halfords and it was so bad it did not ever register anything on their Battery testing machine. This time they replaced it with a slightly smaller Halfords 4 year Battery they had in stock (it was manufactured in July 2023), so I charged it up. Fitted it and all is well.

Is this just bad luck, or me, or the car?

Have to say Halfords were first class in replacing it twice. Are Halfords batteries any good. Who makes them?

[Malc1]

I've just had, on a call-out, the RAC replace a 5 year Guaranteed Varta Battery that was supplied and replaced by them in November 2020  ( on my 3.5 ltr Honda Legend ) on a Call-Out

They've replaced it with another 5yr Gteed Varta Battery ......  but not extended the original warranty period tho'  ....  I hope this new Battery lasts 5 years, but I doubt it !

On the other hand, I have had Yusua batteries for donkeys years on my Lexii and they have performed admirably  ...... Toyota supplied apart from this last one on my ( new to me ) 91 Ls400 supplied by GSF ......  best price at £166  and 5 year warranty replacing the old Yusua one that had lasted some 8 years 

 

Just hope for you that Halfords don't get their batteries from Varta !

Malc

[Tinonline]

I get my batteries from Lexus dealer or Lexus Parts Direct. They last well over 5 years without trickle charging and put up with my flattening them from time to time working on the car or when leaving an internal light on…I don’t use the car much.🤪

[BigBoomer]

Yuasa and Varta make good batteries, but the cars they are fitted to either need regular use or else plugging in to a Battery maintainer.

Trickle charging occasionally does not preserve a Battery.
If you don't use the car regularly and want the Battery to last, you should always plug it in when parked at home.
However, it sounds to me like you may have a parasitic drain or your alternator may be on it's way out.

Since I now work from home and drive maybe 20 miles per week, mine is almost always plugged in to a cheap Battery charger/maintainer (https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08MQGHC2V) and the Yuasa Battery fitted is now 5 years old and doing just fine. The Battery got flattened a couple of times during COVID lockdowns, so I wired up the charger to connect where I park the car. The charger recovered the Battery and has maintained it well since then.
I extended the wiring from the charger to the Battery by 10 metres so the charger is on the wall in the garage but the 12V cable runs to where the car is parked.

If you can't get wiring to where the car is parked, then consider one of the solar chargers. Make sure it provides at least 5W and ideally 10-20W.
Then all you need to do is park where the solar panel gets direct sunlight. I've seen a few cars with the solar panels on the parcel shelf and it seems to work if you can find panel(s) that will fit.

[MLW]

More trickle charging is probably the answer. On a run I have checked the alternator and it gives out a good charge. The Battery is then fine for ages.

I got the first Battery from Halfords as it was £99 minus a 10% discount at the time so a really good price. My daughter had a 5 year Duracell that failed in her Panda at 4 years 8 months. Luckily she had all the paperwork and Euro Car Parts replaced it immediately with a Varta 4 year Battery. This has never let her down, ever after the car sat for a month.

Funny thing is I had a Battery in my Mercedes for 9+ years. However, that was an old top-up liquid Battery. I reckon these new jelly ones that are there because they are 1). maintenance free 2). most people today would not know how to top up a Battery. I think they are inferior.

A friend of ours said recently how awkward a dip-stick was compared to a 'low oil light', even though a dip stick (if metal) is completely accurate and has been successfully working for 120 years!

[ambermarine]

3 hours ago, BigBoomer said:

Yuasa and Varta make good batteries, but the cars they are fitted to either need regular use or else plugging in to a battery maintainer.

Trickle charging occasionally does not preserve a battery.
If you don't use the car regularly and want the battery to last, you should always plug it in when parked at home.
However, it sounds to me like you may have a parasitic drain or your alternator may be on it's way out.

Since I now work from home and drive maybe 20 miles per week, mine is almost always plugged in to a cheap battery charger/maintainer (https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08MQGHC2V) and the Yuasa battery fitted is now 5 years old and doing just fine. The battery got flattened a couple of times during COVID lockdowns, so I wired up the charger to connect where I park the car. The charger recovered the battery and has maintained it well since then.
I extended the wiring from the charger to the battery by 10 metres so the charger is on the wall in the garage but the 12V cable runs to where the car is parked.

If you can't get wiring to where the car is parked, then consider one of the solar chargers. Make sure it provides at least 5W and ideally 10-20W.
Then all you need to do is park where the solar panel gets direct sunlight. I've seen a few cars with the solar panels on the parcel shelf and it seems to work if you can find panel(s) that will fit.

The debate over what Battery and constant maintanence charging is not specific to Lexus it is a general requirement on any vehicle that uses a Battery for its primary power source.

I have used Yuasa for my last two replacement batteries on the Mark 4 the first one was when I bought the car 14 years ago as it was supplied with a totally dead Battery and that was replaced seven years ago with the present one which is still 100% .I keep the Battery on constant charge through a golf caddy charger I found in a skip and have used that for twenty years on both my Lexus ls400s.

It is a remarkably good tool and connected up every time the car is garaged and idle.

 

[scudney]

On the issue of dip sticks, cars are now being made without an oil dip stick just an oil warning light, the same applies to temp guage which has over the years been replaced with a warning light lol 😆 

[Malc1]

Oil Dip sticks weren’t on a Mercedes we had ( in our car stock) some 30 years ago ! 

Malc 

[Redefined]

I wouldn't say it's any poor fortune on your behalf and nor is it the fault of Yuasa. But I will say that I always buy Yuasa and love em. But on the previous Subaru (or the one before that) the Yuasa Battery seemed to be dying prematurely.

During servicing if car wasn't left on for as long as possible when using any of the electrics, by the end of the service everything would be half dead. Showed it to Halfords twice and both times the Battery checked out as healthy (the green indicator on top was also still green). But after the replacement that problem sorted itself out.

Probably just a slightly faulty batch or similar. Still, the only batteries I ever buy (for past 10 or 15 years) are Yuasa as they easily outlast the 5 year warranty (which only comes on yhe higher spec grey models I believe).

[hockeyedwards]

I always buy and recommend the Yuasa Silvers, never had any problems and they seem to last forever, do well in cold weather and CAN go a while without needing car started or trickle charge. I try to run the car periodically or if I am going away, stick it on trickle. Ironically for the first time ever, my LS just clicked when I went to start it the other day, but it hadn't been started in forever, but jumped fine and started again today to shuffle things around.

Perhaps some bad luck on your part, also depends how long that Battery sat prior to being on the shelf at Halfords and last time it received charge.

Having worked at Halfords at uni, I can confirm that.... Yuasa make Halfords batteries 😂

[Redefined]

Lol. Didn't know that but not surprised. They do a teendency to sometimes get the top folks building their gear. Thanks for the info and out of interst... Does that mean Halfords batteries are made in Japan too!?

[hockeyedwards]

36 minutes ago, Redefined said:

Does that mean Halfords batteries are made in Japan too!?

Try Wales... no joke 😂

[scythe]

Original equipment on my 2007 LS 460 lasted 12 years.  It never let me down.  I only changed it because the car started putting up messages about 'low battery' when I'd been sitting outside piano lessons!

: o )

[Malc1]

Yusua batteries .  local Toyota main dealer ( along the road from Lexus in Canterbury ) advised me way back when replacing one of mine that the early original Japan Yusua batteries were made of sterner stuff and lasted much better than now  ...  I do instal the 5 yr gtee ones tho ?

Malc

[MLW]

Interesting, this one was made in China.

[hockeyedwards]

Can't make it up sometimes can you! 😆