so i left my rear door in the up position and went out of town for 2 weeks. come back and battery is totally dead. i've left it open before in my garage with no problems. anyone else had this happen? the dome lights were not on, they usually automatically go out after a couple minutes with door open

I would think it's not normal..Although I've never left the liftgate up for 2 weeks, we frequently have it open and I've left it open long enough to where the lights have gone out. Found that when the lights on the liftgate time out, or whatever you want to call it, you can't turn them on again with the switch, you have to close the gate and open again. That I thought is pretty silly.

Stating the obvious - could just close the tailgate.

The lights may go out but there is still a drain.

There is a constant parasitic drain from the electronics, regardless. It isn’t a lot it but it is enough to create a non-start... in two weeks though, maybe? That sounds like your battery may have been on the low side to begin with.

unless the battery was bad or he has some other sort of electrical issue, there's no way there's enough parasitic drain from normal usage to cause that problem..did you recently add any aftermarket electrical components??

It could very well drain after 2 weeks. You'll need to do a current draw test to find out if there is an abnormal draw. Just search youtube. Keep in mind you need to let the vehicle go to sleep before you have your final reading. My 4runner with OEM prox key PTS is 120ma at first, then a half hour later it drops to 60ma rest. I have a remote start with phone interface so that is about 30ma and radio is about 20ma with a dash cam that stays active in park mode.

50ma would kill a healthy battery after a week. Each time you kill the battery it takes a little bit of life out of it.

I had the same problem after 2 weeks. Checked the current draw and it was about 1/4 amp. I had a device from Auto Club in the OBDC connector that caused it. I remove it and the current draw went way down. 1 week was OK, but not two. Had this happen on the T4 and a Chevy van.

you do realize that after about 5 hours of sitting the vehcile system will go into the "fuel evap leakage check cycle". this is the humming you hear during the night (if you garage it, you can hear this easier).

this will drain your battery if it sits for 1-2 weeks even if you have the all the doors closed and no lights on.

its listed in the manual if you look for it. this applies to all newer toyota vehicles.

ok guys.. do yourselves a favor and invest in a battery trickle charger... whether its a battery tender or a schumacher brand from walmart.. just invest in one.. i've forgotten to turn off interior lights many times and when i do.. i hook up one of these bad boys and let it do its thing until it brings my battery to a full healthy charge.. the longest charging scenario was 2 days.. i thought my battery was done and was going to require a replacement.. then about the 2nd day of trickle charging i see the battery tender indicator flash from a dead batter to a 80% full indicator.. left it do its thing for another half day and i got a full charge..

do yourselves a favor.. dont spend a ton of these devices.. the cheapest ones will work as well.. obviously the higher amps will charge the battery faster..

This is generally very helpful for this type of problem. See what your draw is, then the process of elimination.


The charger you use depends on the battery. It is not wise to make a blanket statement on a charger.

True you don't have to spend a ton of money but you do need to choose a charger that is designed for your specific battery type, be it AGM, Flooded, lithium whatever.

I do not put the rear door lights in the auto position..I put in the off.. If I need the lights ON I put the switch to on. also I replaced all the lamps with LED...

if you go away for a week or more remove the Negative battery connection ..

I go on my winter vacation and I remove the batteries and put in the house.. then I put in gas stabilizer .. never had any problems .

Nah 50ma over a week is only 8.4A.

He probably has more draw.

Nope. That fuel evap cycle is a one time event after driving. It does not happen every day if the truck remains parked.

I just measured my parasitic current draw: 130 mA.
I went on a long vacation last year and didn’t drive the truck for 32 days. The battery was fine when I got back. The OP has a lot higher current draw from something, and/or a really old weak battery.

Edit:
Battery current when rear hatch is open and light switches set to “Door” = 730 mA. (I have LEDs in my two hatch light locations plus another LED in the headliner, so YMMV).
Battery current after the light Off timeout, approx 10 minutes = 213 mA.
Battery current after closing the hatch door = 130 mA.
So, leaving the hatch door open results in an additional 83 mA.