AGM Battery Upgrade.

For me, the only reason to change is to avoid corrosion from battery acid venting. And that’s a significant issue in hot weather. I’m planning on making the change.

 

Agreed. I’m also having that same problem.

 

There is enough anecdotal evidence out there that says you can swap over to an AGM battery and do nothing else and you will be just fine. The tune guys saw a marketing opportunity here and wave the "you gotta get a tune for it to work" whenever someone asks about these batteries. From a business perspective, I don't blame them as it sells tunes!

 

I can understand that but I also have acid that constantly is all over the battery top and brackets and the AGM does last a lot longer than the OEM battery. I’ve replaced 2 so far and they always seem to give up at the worst time.

 

So who makes a good AGM? Is the Wally World AGM made by a reliable supplier or do I need an X2Power?

 

Wally Worlds Everstart AGM is made by Johnson Controls; basically the same agm that Costco sells, but it's got a 4 year free replacement warranty and only costs about $170. It was the cheapest 24f agm with the best warranty I could find. So far (1.5 years) has worked well with many aftermarket accessories (stereo, amps, lights, arb twin). It's also only about 4lbs heavier than stock and still fits in the oem plastic tray.

I'm using an offgridengineering strap to hold it in place.

Northstar X2 and Odyssey make quality AGM's, but they cost twice the price.

 

Great info there MGMDesertTaco!
Now I know where I’ll be going for the AGM battery once I get the flash done!

 

AGM is fine stock, been doing it for a long time. Worst I've had is 6 years, best has been 9 years.

The 9 year old was a Mexico yellow top. Still had decent CA but I was getting nervous for the upcoming winter and the casing had cracks around the terminals.

+1 for Walmart / Costco 24F AGM, can be hard to find though.

 

Get a battery with a good warranty at a place that will have it in stock when you need it.

 

Just replaced my stock (made it 5 years) battery with a 24F AGM from Costco. I don't know if it's in my head or the old battery was just that shot, but the truck definitely starts up easier and idles better. Was getting some bad voltage surges it seemed like at idle and its gone and smooth now. I'm gonna take my chances on running this as is with no tune, seems enough guys do it.

 

I think with no tune is mostly fine. Old Jeeps run AGMs quite popularly and they have nothing but a simple voltage regulator in the PCM that keeps the charge somewhere between 13.2-14.2. AGMs can last up to 10 years in those, so I bet it’ll be fine on the Tacoma too with a very similar charge profile. A tune would actually concern me about overcharging.

 

I've got an optima yellow top that's been charging in my truck at 14.9v for at least a few hours a day for the last 4 years. Never have had a power problem.