Battery Cracked on the Side !!

Well, yesterday when I was installing my PIAA's lights ran into this - Cracked Battery on the Side:



Does not look good. This is the OEM battery, and the metal bracket over the top appears has crushed the battery over time causing it to start leaking acid recently. I should have paid closer attention -

Normally you would see this type of problem around the terminals, but this very fist time I have seen this issue on any of my previous car batteries.

I mounted the battery back and was careful not to tighten the bracket rods too much. You can still see that the edge of the battery is curved due to the compression of the bracket overtime.



My scangauge displays between 13.4 and 13.8 depending what is turned On. I do not have a sound system or additional accessories. However, I am afraid the battery will suddenly fail very soon.

A few questions:

Anyone experienced this issue? Will the dealer replace this battery after 40 months on my 09 Tacoma or should I chunk $$ on a new one.

I have the towing package which includes the Heavy Duty Battery with the 130A alternator. Which aftermarket battery would any of you recommend to substitue this cracked battery?

 

Get that out asap. How many miles on your truck?

 

I think it's a 720 amp rated Battery. Replace with same or higher
It's pro rated so by the time all the hassle is done you won't get much if anything. I have seen this happen before. VERY RARE. But it does need to be replaced asap.

 

My battery did the exact same thing but worse. I rePlaced it with dual group 24's. That oem Yota battery is an excellent battery though. I ran mine for over a year with it leaking battery acid....lol.

 

20,853

 

Should be warranty if 09 or newer.....

 

Will call local dealer tomorrow and check on the warranty. This really should not be happening.

 

Yeah batteries are supposed to be 5yr. What year is yours?

 

Original battery, truck purchased Oct 2008.

 

Hmmm might be out of warranty then, i would take it and see if they will replace it. If not, they might pro-rate it at 50% or something and save you some money, but you will need to buy a toyota battery.

 

IMHO, the OEM batteries are crap and you don't want another one anyway.

The one in my 06 was leaking from the positive terminal at 5 years and 50K. The one in my 09 was leaking at the same spot at 2 years old and 40K. The 09 is a company owned truck and the boss does not believe in preventative maintenance. By the time I changed it out, the acid had eaten away the tin (?) plating on the cable clamps and they were bare copper. I replaced both batteries with NAPA Legend series and cleaned and sealed the terminals after I was done. No more issues.

 

it happens..Change it before the battery completely blows up.

 

Get an AGM battery, mine the top plate holder is terrible for the battery.

 

you should be covered under warranty unless those stealership pull a loop hole on you.

 

3 years 36,000 miles

 

I don't care what any of you say about the OEM group 27f batt; the thing is stout and handles severe discharges and recharges extremely well. I ran mine to the absolute extreme voltage discharges over and over again and I couldn't kill it! I dropped it below 11.6 volts hundreds if not thousands of times....I've never been so impressed by a battery.

OPTIMAS suck. Ask those who know...
Audio spl guys and heavy hitter keydown radio transmission boys...

 

I hear 'ya, agree on the battery performance. Mine showed Green in the battery charge indicator window even as it was leaking acid on the side.

Acid leaking is asking for trouble and will damage components in the compartment, stip paint, etc.

My opinion of the root cause of the problem as to why the battery cracked on the side is not that the battery is of bad quality, but how tight from the factory the bracket was, that led to the problem.

I got a Duralast Gold 27F today at Autozone - it was a good deal for $98.00, 3/36k replacement warranty with 8yr standard battery warranty. A guy in the store help swap the batteries, and told him to be easy on tightening the bracket, dont need a Herculean Torque!!