Is my battery dead or am I going insane?

the battery is paste due for a change anyways,, so you have nothing to loose,,, especially with your short trips, and infrequent use.
I replaced the battery on 2019 a year ago.
Keep in mind; I don't wait for them to die, trying to exchange these inconveniences for another $3 worth of "life".

 

This is all great info. I am 100% happy to pay for a new battery and don’t want to fuck around with these things. I was ready to buy it a couple days ago but autozone talked me out of it.

Going to sort this today and buy a new battery and hope for the best. Thank you all very much.

 

this about covers it.

 

Put a voltmeter on the battery and crank. If voltage drops considerably battery is bad.
If voltage does not drop you have a bad connection somewhere.

 

I hard mount a 2D in everything I own now and always travel with a GB40. Great product line they've created.

 

Yep, the batteries last 2 maybe 3 years out here in the desert. My wife's 2020 Edge ST, I just replaced. That thing has the AGM, 48lb, frigging almost have to get a cherry picker to get the thing out. Have to remove the airbox cover and turn the battery up on its end. I was thinking acid is gonna pour out of the thing. Anyways, I won't complain about changing out the Tacoma battery anymore, that's for damn sure.

 

Start with a battery. It's either that or you have a parasitic drain issue, but that's not likely

 

You could prolly put it on a trickle charger overnight, but at this point it could be done.

Mine lasted 6 years as of last week....

 

Asking the truck to start in the morning is the battery test and it's failed to do that several times.

And stop getting free advice from parts counter employees. They simply don't have the hands-on experience to make the right call

I had a tow truck driver kid tell my customer she needed a 300$ AGM battery for her 2015 Mazda 3 because "the braking system on this car recharges the battery when you slow down"

 

12.4v is nothing worth writing home about, IMO.

 

If you have a multi-meter there's a few decent load tests you can do in the driveway.

Turn the headlights on for a few minutes with the engine off and see if the battery voltage tanks quickly. A strong battery should still be able to start the car after leaving headlights on for 5-10 minutes. If it can't do that, that's a strike against the battery.

Or disable spark or fuel and crank the engine while watching voltage. If it drops below 10.0 volts the battery is weak

 

I replace all batteries in all three vehicles every 2 years.
Put it on the calendar I do.
We don't play games with 115 degree weather for 30+ days in a row, preceded by temps at 105-100 for the past few weeks
and temps at 105-110 for the next 30-60 days.

My fellow TacoWorld pals here in Arizona get it.

 

I found this out the hard way... My alternator went out, drained my Optima Yellow Top completely flat (as in stuck two jump packs on it and kept driving to get off the highway). Swapped the alternator in a parking lot... then drove on down the highway. Blew the seals in the sealed battery. Had corrosion PILED on the terminal by the time I got home.

 

4. use a trickle charger when you are gone. (on the new battery).

 

Just replaced the OEM battery in my 2020. Lasted almost 4 years.

 

For full capacity of an AGM, you'd need to get a tune to increase charging voltage. They'll work without, but you aren't using the battery to full capacity. Could also charge it every week or two with a quality charger if you don't want to do a tune.

 

Just like in my wife's Escape. I would pay someone $20 to change the battery. Just too much of a pita.

 

On the wife's 2020 Ford the battery went into survival mode. She was telling me that she couldn't start her car with her phone. I wasn't concerned. Next she was saying that she couldn't unlock all 5 doors with her remote. I wasn't concerned. Then she was saying her heated steering wheel wasn't working. I wasn't concerned. Finally she says "I got a low battery notice for my car on my phone." Ah Ha! I had no idea that the AGM batteries on the new gizmo vehicles do this. Anyways, replace the battery and now she has all of her fancy things working on her Ford. I don't know if the new Tacomas will be like that but just something to maybe be on the look out for. FYI

 

I wouldn't change it for 20 but I would pay 40 to watch.

 

a fully charged battery should provide over 13v. i use a noco genius 10 to repair drained/sulfated/whatever batteries. gives it multiple years of extra life. after an overnight cycle a battery previously providing only 12.1-12.4v will be at 13.3-13.6v.

proper way to store a car is to either disconnect the battery or leave it connected to the noco charger/maintainer or whatever other trickle charger you have.

some cars can take a maintainer plugged into the cigarette lighter, i've never gotten that to work on my toyotas tho. probably a diode in there somewhere preventing the reverse flow.