Dead Battery! 09 Taco 23k miles WTF? Rant!!

I have noticed mine has been weak in the cold, my truck is about 1 1/2 years old with 10k on it.

But lately i have been thinking of trading for a tundra or 3/4 ton

 

Wow still have original battery in my '05 with 80k

 

My other car, a 2003 Highlander had the original battery when I traded it in February 2010. Never had a problem.

 

yea mine died about the same time maybe sooner.

 

snarky customer service lady on the phone: "...that's why I don't drive a Toyota..."

 

The battery the factory uses is garbage, it's one of the ways they can sell the truck at low price. Go get yourself an optima, your battery problems will be over for a very long time.

 

Have an 06 SR5 with the OEM battery, still reads full volts, and going strong. SO....not a believer of that statement.

 

Bone stock truck in regards to electronics. The new battery seems to have fixed the problem. I was afraid of the same thing (short, current draw, alternator, etc...) but it might of been just a dead cell in the battery.

I live in Southern CA so no extreme weather. It has dropped to high 30's low 40's overnight in the last few weeks but i wouldn't consider that too extreme

 

I know...I did have AAA but did not renew this year relying on Toyota reliability (09 Tacom + 09 Corolla) + I was under the impression basic warranty covered roadside

My fault for missing the fine print

 

Since I maintain large banks of batteries on UPS systems I tell you one thing. Dead batteries are usually just one cell died and it's dragging the entire battery down feeding the short it creates.

Cheaper batteries have less support on the plates so it's more likely to happen. On industrial batteries you can get at the connections of the cells so it's easy to test them but car batteries now days that connection is usually internal so it's impossible to test.

I specific gravity test on the cells might reveal the dead cell. Don't help much though cause it's not like you can change one out.

Big industrial batteries you actually can change out one cell.

 

Sounds like your battery was drain completely, since it couldnt even open the doors. The alternator is not intended to charge a dead battery. It's for topping off the battery.

If you had a battery charger at home, you may try charging it fully at home and see if that works.

 

Heat is harder on a battery than cold weather, I replace mine every 3 years!

 

Had an '07 Rav4 and the battery died almost to the date a year later. Found that one of the cells went dead. Wife just bought an EverReady battery for her Chrysler and it died within a few months (has been cold here in Vegas lately), took it to Sam's Club, and they just put it on the charger.

 

i have the original battery and have had my truck since brand new in feb 2006. i only have 20200 miles on it and its been in storage for a 15 mo deployment then a 11 mo deployment. after the 11 mo deployment, i had to have charged on a charger and it hasnt had a problem since

 

if you belive everything you read....



prolly an aftermarket alarm guy...

 

I have no reason to lie and like mentioned before I don't have an alarm system.

Only explanation that I may have for the comment is that Toyota probably contracts their roadside service to another company. I would like to think that a Toyota representative would refrain from making such a comment.

 

Mines an 05 with 105,000 in New England and never replaced. Am honking about replacing it now so I don't get stuck somewhere with the kids. Any suggestions on buying, stock is $87 from Toyota. other brands better?. thanks

 

A lot of things can contribute to a bad battery, Poor quality electrolyte, poor insulators, and poor battery cast strapping. I know my battery is made by Johnson Controls. There are three main battery makers in the world right now, JCI, Exide(total junk), and Deka. JCI has good and bad batteries most are not made in the US. Deka makes mostly all of theirs in the US and are a pretty good lead acid battery. Mostly all of Deka's have a six year warranty. Some eight years (silver alloy ones).

 

Damn.... I have an 06 with 75,000 and have done alot of winching on the original batt.


prolly going to have a dead batt soon for saying that.

 

Deep Cycle Batteries are for electric boat trolling motors, not for cars.
a deep cycle battery is designed to discharge at a slow rate, at lower amps, and must use a pulse charger to charge.
a car or truck starter needs a high amp rate, needs a quick and high amp discharge, and the alternator is a direct charge, not a pulse charger

EDIT: Mr island808, no offence to you, I like reading your posts and you are one of the top 2-3 most intelligent people here