Hello everyone, I recently joined the clublexus forums and don't really post much. However today I really need assistance with my car since my battery died and it won't turn on. I changed the battery and my car still won't turn on. Headlights work, tail lights work, stereo everything works BUT the brake lights don't work, when I press in the brake pedal the light on my push start won't turn green. Another thing is that when I press the brake pedal and click the push start, my gauges will read "DEPRESS BRAKE PEDAL TO START" it's as if the brake pedal isn't detected. My tail lights work but when I press the brake the lights won't become brighter, so the brake lights don't really work. All this happened after my battery died and I'm not sure what it could be. I checked all fuses and all were working fine. So overall since my brake pedal isn't working my car can't be turned on. Please help ! My IS is 2011

 

Just for some additional details, I can't switch from park to DRIVE, NEUTRAL OR REVERSE the lever is stuck in park. I was reading about "Brake switches" and I'm thinking it might be a possible cause for my car not working however I would like to know what might be some other causes before switching it that out.

 

Is the brake pedal stiff? Mine has done this to me a couple times and I had to push down harder than normal to start my car. Perhaps this is all you need.

 

Hey, yeah the pedal is stiff and doesnt press in all the way as it normally would. I tried pressing on it very hard didn't work, I pressed down hard and I even held it down for like 15 seconds then clicked start and didn't work. I've tried pressing it, releasing, pressing it and so on a couple of times and still won't work.

 

I know for me the car will do that when I change the battery cept when I press down the brakes and its stiff I do have to press it down harder than normal but the push to start always turns green. Man for you what sucks is that the car can't shift to any gear too...

 

Yeah, luckily it happened when it was parked in my garage and not when I was out on the road. I keep trying things I read but none of them seem to work. I've tried with both key fobs same result, it's like the brake pedal isn't recognized as "Depressed".

 

did you check all the fuse including engine bay and driver kick panel and passenger panel as well

 

I checked the driver side fuse box also the hood box fuses didnt know there was a passenger side fuse box too, Going to check that out for sure tomorrow thanks!

 

It's 10AMP fuse name "tail"

 

Have you disconnected the battery again after installing it? I would disconnect the the battery again and then reconnect it and make sure your both the + and the - are connected well.

Are you closing the door when you attempt to start the car?

If after doing the above and your car won't start, you will need to check several fuses. Go through the owners manual and find all the fuse boxes and check anything related to the ignition (main fuse), etc. You also need to check the owners manual if there is a procedure to start the car after swapping the battery. I ahve read on some posts that you need to touch the Lexus symbol on the FOB while pushing start (don't know if that's true).

Let us know what you find.

 

My brother in law had the same issue, it turned out to be the main fuse in the engine bay!

 

If you want to be able to shift the gears without the car running, remove the small plastic cover in the center console at the upper left with a slit in it. Below you'll depress the black plastic and it should allow you to move throughout the gears.

 

PROBLEM SOLVED, thanks whitebeast, it was a fuse in the passenger's side fuse box, however it was a 7.5 AMP lol but still by reading the cover was obvious which one it would. Never knew it had so many fuse boxes. Thank you all!!! I appreciate the help!!!!

 

Do you remember which fuse it was? Just so I can put it in my memory bank

 

Yay, you just saved at least a few hundred bucks by not taking it in to Lexus. Would have been 2 hours labor and and $40 for a 7.5a fuse .