Engine not starting. battery problem? any suggestion on battery

My truck is 3 years old. I tried to start this morning and it didnt start. There was no crank. so I hooked up a jump starter and tried a couple of times and then it started. I am assuming it is the battery. but it just lasted 3 years. some people have used it for 6 -7 years.

Can any one suggest a good battery that will last for several years? What size battery would I need?

 

27F would be the battery that you need.

I got his back in January. Interstate MTP-27F. 710cca & 160min reserve capacity. Same specs dimension as OEM one. I've read somewhere, but cannot confirm that this particular OEM one is a rebranded Interstate. Again that is a speculation only that I seem to recall reading somewhere while I did my research shopping for this one.

http://www.interstatebatteries.com/cs_eStore/Products/RT/PID-MTP-27F%28Automotive+Truck%29.aspx?dsNavigation=Nrc~id-3%2CN~4294784989-4290241168-4286299951&Title=Pure+Lead+MTP27F+replacement++battery

 

thank you. I need to pick one up today if battery is the problem

 

Well what you need to do is check battery voltage. If it's below 12.4 it needs charged. It may have been drawn down by something. It's not necessarily bad. If it takes a charge then you can have it load tested. Or you can watch the voltage while you crank it.

Could also be that you've got extremely high resistance between the battery posts and clamps and you clamped the jumper cables right to the battery cables on top of the posts.

Check voltage while you crank or try to crank on the posts and on the clamps, should be the same.

If your battery did die, I too went with the interstate megatron whatever 27F.

There are several major battery manufacturers, Johnson Controls and Exide are the two that I remember right now, anyway... Toyota specs out a battery and has JC build it for them. Interstate specs out their own battery and has JC build it for them. There are a lot of cheaper shittier batteries that are also made by Johnson Controls though.

 

Not sure if Costco has a battery that will fit, but they have an excellent warranty, are apparently a good battery (highly rated by consumer reports and get good online reviews) and are inexpensive. I run one in my other vehicle.

 

As Max said, make sure that you actually need a new battery.

If so, and to clarify my original post, I would have gotten Toyota's True Start battery for $79 over the Interstate, but they don't sell them up here and the ones dealerships offer here, they sell for $200. My point, if I was in US, I would have picked that one up.

Costco as mentioned above would be another good choice for a decent price. Unfortunatly my local one did not carry 27F. Some Tacomas come with 24F batteries. The ones with towing package like yours come with 27F.

Here is my thread from a few months ago deciding on what to buy.

 

How can I test for voltage? do I need some tools?

I saw these at Sears. with 3 year warranty and 8 year prorated warranty for $100. Would these work? are these reliable?

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_02833128000P

 

Buy a cheap multimeter-you will find other uses for it.
Three years is NOT old for a battery-although it could be the difficulty-CHECK YOUR BATTERY TERMINALS.
Clean them-reinstall-see if you have the same symptoms.
Most likely DIRTY terminals.

 

id have to agree. clean the terminals and charge the battery before doing anything else. 3 yrs aint shit for a battery. for the record johnson controls also makes the autozone duralast gold line

 

My OE battery is 6 yrs old your results may vary. Charge yours but before check the electrolyte level if you can and add distilled water as needed. Make sure the terminals are clean by removing them, negative first, clean the surfaces, reinstall and tighten, negative last.

 

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thanks for all the ideas. I will work on the cleaning and testing the battery tonight and will update you tomorrow.

 

I cleaned the terminals really good with a brush and I also cleaned the metal round clam wires that fit the batter terminals

ok so I got a volt meter and tested the battery and it read 12.5 as shown



and then I started the engine and this is the sound I get. I have a video at this link
http://www.flickr.com/photos/94890460@N05/8644748384/in/photostream/


and then I hooked up the jump starter


and this is how the engine sounds. another video here
http://www.flickr.com/photos/94890460@N05/8643650067/in/photostream/


My troubling question is that if that volt meter shows 12.5 then the battery should be good. and if the battery is good then why doesnt it start the truck. but when I use the jump starter it starts the truck.

 

12.5 under no load doesn't tell you anything.
You need to measure under load. A battery might read 13.0 under no load, but under load it might dump to 9 or even lower if it has a bad cell.

Gets hot in Fresno, heat is a battery killer.
3 years is a short life, but I would not expect more than 4-5.

 

deffenity the sound of a low battery on the 1st vid, battery might hold 12.5, but has bad cells and when you hit the key, not enuff ass = no start, load test at napa or autozone would tell you more than likely your battery is no good, hard to tell by the one pic, but appears the side closet to the fender has leaked acid....

 

Your doing better than me. Mine only made it two years. Mine didn't even give me a warning. Started great then the next mourning nothing, no click or anything. Wouldn't even take a charge.

I'd boost it take it the part store or garage and let someone actually load test it.

 

sounds like battery might have a bad cell. I had to replace mine and it wasn't a year old at the time

 

12.5 DOES tell you something but if you're battery is charged and the terminals are clean and you're still having the same problem then... (however had you had very low voltage then you'd need a charge and that's what that tells you -- and possibly that something is drawing it down. Without voltage it doesn't matter how many AMPs your battery can give theres no pressure and you'd need to charge it before you could do anything else)
Seems like a shorted cell to me, check battery voltage while having someone crank it. Shouldn't fall below 9.6 more or less but I bet it drops to almost nothing.

 

I did forget to mention that I notice some acid leak build up formed towards the negative side of the terminal.

 

It's the battery, I've changed 100's of them. Sometimes they last 7 days, sometimes they last 7 years & everything in between. Bought a '99 Civic new that had a 36 month battery, died 3 years later almost to the day. The "eye" was still green also. As Rich said, heat is a killer. Buy a battery with the best warranty & the easiest to return close by where you live. I use Autozone, since I can walk to it in 10 min. Never had any problems with their Duralast Gold. Here's a good read: http://www.aa1car.com/library/battery_runs_down.htm