Truck wouldn’t start. Had to Jump. Dealership says everything fine.

Id bet its your battery. Most Toyota dealerships use an electronic battery tester/charger unit that seems to be way too lenient on what it considers a "good" battery. That is-if they tested it at all.. Sadly these OEM batteries don't have a good track record.

 

I'm guessing it's not the RS. If the RS was failing it would disable the starter all together and not allow it to engage and give the "click click click". It could be the remote start has a current draw that killed the battery but I don't think it's the started disable that's the cause.

 

Maybe I am in the minority here (I am sure that I probably am) but given the cost of a new battery, why not just put in a new one? There is some evidence here to suggest it might be the battery and many others seem to have bad luck with the stock Toyota battery (certainly many others have had good luck with the same battery) but given the cost of a new one why not just replace (and check all of the battery cables)? Worst case you are only out a few hundred bucks. To me I would rather replace the battery too soon than not. Where you live could also be a factor.

 

Use the opportunity to upgrade your battery. Instead of going oem again get a nice AGM battery from north star or odyssey and call it a day. More startup power, better cold and vibration resistance and greater deep cycle capacity. It will give you a little peace of mind and a reputable brand should have a decent warranty.

 

Not necessarily - it could be something as simple as a loose butt connector. The OP indicates that this was professionally installed, but unless he went somewhere very unusual, I have socks that are older than anyone installing after-market stereos, remote starters, etc.

 

Right. For $250 bucks or so you are at least sure. I live in NY but have family in Canada, as soon as the border re-opens (if it ever does!), I will drive the Tacoma up and put in one of those Optima Red Top batteries. Worst price I have seen for that battery is $239. Totally worth it.

Of course, with all the heat we have been having across the country, I really don't know what the best battery for hot climates would be ...

 

If it happens again, I will get a new battery. But, my truck is under warranty and I will get it replaced under warranty if it’s covered. No point in paying for one if I can get it for free. That’s what the warranty is for. When it’s out of warranty and goes bad, then I will pay to upgrade. But, if warranty will replace it (and I paid for my warranty), then that’s what I will do. Paying for something that you can get replaced under warranty is akin to people paying $1500 out of pocket because they have a $500 deductible and are worried about increasing their premiums. There is no point in paying for something if you’re not going to use it when the time arises.

 

Basically I agree with everyone else that it is the battery. Likely what's happening is they're testing it after it has driven for a while and had time to charge back up. I imagine once they allow it to sit and test it again, they'll see the loss of charge and be able to replicate your issue.

 

my OEM battery went a staggering 8-9 years. i cant remember. even the shop that changed my battery was astonished. (i had the shop change the battery because the owner wouldnt take my money for mis-diagnosing my wife's shock absorbers - i tried to pay for at least the parts). that new battery went another marathon..only to be changed (preemptively) out when i was going to idaho to hunt elk in the middle of the winter. it was getting tired according to the load test.

i think the OP's battery is getting tired. it is just a matter of time. i would carry jumper cables for sure.

 

Stop by Advanced Auto Parts and ask them to test your battery and alternator.
It is free. Mine was able to detect a cell going bad in my van battery. They did a load test also. AAP gives you a print out of your tests. Take it to the dealer, if battery fails.
Autozone did not do load test for me, I would skip them.
PS where are you located? Heat kills batteries. Mine last half as long in GA as they did in Alaska.

 

I had a similar issue on wife's Rav. About 20,000 started acting like O.P. Dealer checked and said Battery was fine.
Couple days later same issue.
I have a battery warehouse, (Pasco) that I use for batteries for other vehicles and boats.
They checked the battery and said there was a bad cell. Guy said Dealers misdiagnose it all the time. He also said he had seen a lot of Toyota Batteries loose a cell. I paid $99 for a new 5 year battery from them and skipped the dealer even though warranty was available. Put it in myself and saved 6 hours of my life time...

 

I’m in Oregon. It was about 93 degrees yesterday.

 

My guess would be a not very tight or a dirty battery connection.

 

Hot and cold temps are really hard on batteries. Most likely the battery was low and the alternator recharged it slightly after you drove it. The stealership probably took their voltage reading then and saw that it was within their specs or "still good." My battery leaked from the top caps when new and I had to pull teeth to get it replaced a few months after buying my truck. It was replaced under warranty with Toyota's 84 month battery. Been running strong a little over 4 years.

By the way, most stealerships have a hard time convincing manufacturer's that batteries are defective and therefore, will lie to the customer and say it's still good. Also, some car batteries are flat out not covered under warranty like with Mini Cooper. Any car battery reading of 12.6v. to 12.4v is cause for concern and needs to be charged or replaced.

Last, Johnson Controls make really crappy batteries in my experience (like Costco's enterprise brand) so stay away from them. I'd recommend a brand from Exide batteries, Toyota's 84 month battery or an AGM battery from Northstar or Odyssey.

 

Battery.

 

Costco uses Interstate branded batteries. Their AGM for the Tacoma is 160 bucks and it's a great battery.

 

Johnson Controls makes Interstate Batteries along with several other brands. I haven't used Costco's Interstate AGM, but their regular Interstate batteries are absolute garbage. I'm lucky if I get a year out of them.

 

Statements like this crack me up. If you are lucky to only get a year out of them, then why do you keep buying them?

 

My battery of 3 1/2 years was dying on me too, just a few days ago. It turns over slowly, but would still start. Even causes my multi-info display to reset.

Fearing that I would get stranded, I swapped the new battery out of our Sienna, and now the Taco starts fine. My OEM battery I swapped into the Sienna cranks its i4 just fine though, guessing the aged battery doesn't have enough juice left to turn over the Tacoma's V6.

 

Dealer near me offer lifetime replacement battery. As long as you own the car/truck it is free. That is what I will get when the oem battery goes bad. So far so good even with my additional mods. Even when using the winch.