Possible battery issues

It has gotten pretty cold up here the last few days and the Taco is feeling the effects. The last three or four times I started it after it sat our for a few hours, it went dead, I turned the key back, it struggled, then started. Today was the worst as it took a few times to get it to go.

I am guessing it is the battery. My Scan Gauge II is in the mail and should be here Tuesday, so I am hoping that will give me some insight.

Any other ideas?

 

could be a clogged up fuel filter, but as cold as it is, battery is probably a good bet. have you checked the water/electrolytes in the battery? load test?? run it by autozone if you get a chance......their machine(and free test) should help out. by the way......how old is the battery??

 

Sounds like a dead battery. If it's been over 4 years go ahead and get a new one. My wife's OEM battery in the Honda Pilot lasted just barely over 3 years.

 

Clean and check all your terminals/connections.

Yeah, especially if the battery is old - they show signs of their age.

Perhaps you could take it out for a longer drive and get the alternator to charge it up some. Unless of course, there's something wrong with the charging system. Just guessing.

But then again - years ago, I had a car with a battery that was sluggish for 3 years. The dealership kept telling me to change it. Finally, one winter I decided to change it. But at that point, it never left me sit. It was sluggish for those 3 years.

 

My guess is a weak battery. By the way, if you want to have your charging system (alternator) tested and have an exact diagnostic, they absolutely have to put in a new battery. You can't test an alternator with a dead battery, it will screw up all the results and they are gonna end up maybe changing parts for nothnig.
By the way, the only way to check a battery correctly is doing a load test which means loading it it with half the CCA during 15 seconds and the voltage should not drop below 9.6 volts.
You can also try 200 amps for 10 seconds and it should not go below than 10.5 volts.
The best way to test an alternator is to use an amp clamp that you put around the positive wire that comes out of the alternator, you let your car idle, turn all the electrics off(lights, radio etc...) you check the amps and the voltage you got. Then you put rear defrost on and you should have at least 10 amps more and the same voltage which should be around 14.4 volts.
I wanted to tell you this because there are a lot of mechancis out there that don't know how to test a charging system correctly and the customer usually ends up paying for things that never should have been replaced.

 

I can't add anymore, great job guys ! Yeah...like I know what I'm talking about

 

Thanks for everything guys. I had the battery tested and it came back marginal, which up here, is no good. I bought a new battery and everything is good.