kosmo101

So wife left house in 2013 rx350 rwd. No problem. Goes about 5 miles and shuts off car. Goes to start 10 mins later and dash lights all flickering. Like battery dead or not holding charge. Someone there hooks up a portable jump box but puts cables reversed. Ugh. She said it sizzled for a second. Puts it on the right way and car starts. Check engine light on. Little triangle light on. Says check aws system in middle. Weird thing is when put in drive..car moves but pressing gas pedal does nothing. Reverse..car moves fine but gas does nothing. Took out battery and put on brand new one. Same thing. Left cables off for 10 mins. Same thing. Didnt get to check fuses yet or put scanner on it. Any ideas? We have extended warranty with carmax but wonder if its covered.

RX in NC

How old is the battery? If it is the original one, you probably need to replace it. These factory batteries are mediocre at best, and strong batteries are needed to properly operate these vehicles.

Regarding hooking up a jump box improperly, that could have indeed fried some components. I would start by reading the OBDII codes.

Clutchless

Your original problem was just a bad battery.
You damaged components when the cables were hooked up backward. You need a shop to diagnose what is damaged. If you tell them what happened with the backward connected cables they may not cover it under the extended warranty......
Good luck, this could be expensive if not covered.

afpj

If the portable jump starter was one of those small lithium ion units, they have built-in protection to prevent reverse polarity issues. The older big ones with the lead acid battery may not though. However it seems that your issue started even before the jump start so definitely have it looked at under warranty.