Battery Terminal Corrosion

A while back, I noticed that my negative battery terminal was building up crazy amounts of corrosion. Worse than I've ever seen on any of the 26 vehicles I've owned, in fact. I cleaned it up with a wire brush and didn't think any more about it. Fast-forward to last week and I had my truck at the dealership for it's 25K service.

While I'm in the lounge, the svc manager comes and tells me that they found an inordinate amount of corrosion on my neg terminal. He said it was a known issue with those stock batteries, having something to do with how their venting was designed. He had the tech replace both my battery and the terminal with brand new stuff and wrote it off under the factory warranty.

About three weeks ago I went to start the truck one morning and it cranked over, but died the moment I let off the key. I cranked it again and it fired right up. A few days later I had a simliar issue, except that time it nearly died, but managed to catch on before completely conking out. I had meant to mention those to the svc manager when I went in, but had forgotten by then. I'm assuming now that those were probably caused by my battery giving a weak crank from this issue.

My service paperwork states "Customer states engine will not crank intermittently and has heavy corrosion built up". So the moral of the story is, if you have also been having this issue with your battery and are still under factory warranty, this can get taken care of under warranty if you complain to your dealer. It seems as though Toyota knows damn good and well their stock batteries have a problem, but are letting it go unless you bring it up.

I have no idea which years this may apply to, but I have seen a couple of other complaints on here so figured it was worth it's own thread. Mine is a 2013 with the 5.7l power plant and I have made zero changes to the stock electrical system beyond plugging in an Ultraguage and a Tekonsha P3 TBC.

 

Recently changed out my 07's original OEM battery after 8 years. It did have the positive terminal constant corrosion issue with me. Previous service records showed that on three occasions that the dealer cleaned terminals and recommended battery replacement but previous owner declined each time, probably because it was not a freebie. Battery label stated that it was made for Toyota by Exide. The battery still had plenty of cranking power, but I was able to find the same battery labeled Bosch , made by Exide. Same CCA's . Hopefully this newer version will have no issues.

 

My stock battery died this winter (after a little less than 5 years). Initially, I did not have any corrosion. But after a couple of years, I began to see some corrosion. I was planning to replace it with Sears DieHard Platinum, but because it died unexpectedly, I had to get what was nearby, Walmart brand. It had higher CCA than the stock one. So far, so good.

 

ive noticed corrosion on mine and leaking. it seemed to have been cracked because the bar that holds was torques down too much it seems. and i ended up putting the biggest optima marine battery on mine. just liked the blue top better. works great.

 

They replaced it with this Toyota TrueStart unit (and sprayed the crap out of everything). Hopefully this one won't have the same issues.

 

Mine is still original (2011). Both terminals are clean. Reads Made for Toyota by Exide.

 

Pretty sure the TrueStart is made by Exide. The ones I saw at the dealer were labeled that way near the bottom of the label by the date.

 

You're right, I remember now, it did say True Start too.

 

johnson controls makes it. Same battery you buy in autozone.

Johnson Controls supplies Ford Motor company, Diamler Chrysler, Honda, Toyota, Nissan, and Isuzu with original equipment batteries.

 

My 07 Tundra battery was definitely labeled "Made for Toyota by Exide" My 09 Tacoma battery was made by Johnson Controls. The ones at the dealer were clearly marked the same. "Made for Toyota by Exide". It is all about supply and demand. If Toyota needs 25, 0000 batteries and J Controls can only ship 20,000 the Toyota will fill their needs from another supplier such as West Penn or Exide. The three makers of auto batteries in the US.

 

So this is 2007 still? Johnson controls is the main one now. Op bought the battery currently its johnson controls one.

Edit Dealers buy from a contract approved list. One here locally does interstate battery. i know your going to come back on this.

 

Truck is shipped with the battery.. how else you going to move it in the rail yard or ship yard to the transporter.

 

My 09 Tacoma OEM battery from factory was made by Johnson Controls. I had to pick up some paperwork at Stevenson's East Toyota here in Aurora after work and their True Start hollow display batteries were all labeled "Manufactured by Exide" like I saw there last week. Naturally it was easy to assume they were made by Exide. Apparently they have been there for some time. A long time. I was shown a new True Start that was in fact like you said was made by JC. Naturally they wanted to sell it to me. Like I said earlier my 07 OEM was Exide. Looks like they used Exides up to at least 2011 according to Wynnded. I had a hard time finding that same battery with OEM specs. Just got lucky finding it at PepBoys labeled Bosch.

 

My 95 tacoma came with a GM ac/delco battery. Beat that one... go old gm/toyota partners long gone.

 

We used to have the calibration services contract with Johnson Controls Optima plant that was here in Aurora, CO until they moved several years ago. Can't remember if they located south of the border. We used to get freebie scratch and dent batteries every now and then. Good old days. It was cool seeing Optimas made from scratch. Lots of jobs lost at that facility not to mention a sizable contract.

 

I live only 5 miles from two JC plants here where i live now. Problem for JC now, is that china owns them. Rumor has it the 2 plants here will be shut down. (unlikely)

Down side optima battery has a HIGH defective rate now, and the stores here dont even display the battery anymore do to its defective rate.

IMO. Battery no matter who makes them Jc,exide, west penn they are are JUNK. No matter who makes them, they are putting Warranty on battery's show giving very little warranty on it. Example. my tundra this year has been thru 4, YES 4 batteries. Reason bad new batteries ( sounds like the old SEARS thing from years ago). I had one only week and it went flat DEAD. Starter and alt. all check out fine. BTW these are autozone battery's. Oh guess what i have number 5 on the charger NOW its going BAD. CHEAP BAS*****.

 

Sean number five is not holding a charge.

 

Called a friend who worked at Aurora Optima plant. Johnson Controls bought the brand in 08 and immediately started building a new plant in Mexico. Doesn't seem like it was that long ago. He is still pissed. Had to train folks up from Mexico how to build them so they could take his job. The Aurora plant was huge. Gates Rubber was here for decades and went overseas. Sorta like the Big three have done. I have seen some newer brand AGM's pop up. Any threads on them yet?

 

None yet..But the agm has been use in other parts of the world for years now. I have not seen one in person yet but like anything else i wait on the data do come pouring in before i would jump on the ship on them, to do the EPA bull**** over here they will screw it up some how.

 

When I lived in Vegas, new batteries there would last roughly two years. The summertime heat would cook them. I was a fleet manager and was constantly replacing batteries.

 

I've already had the battery replaced on my 13 under warranty. The new one is corroded now. Junk!

 

My stock battery was JUNK so tired of cleaning it every couple weeks. Just swapped it out for the optima red top. Got it at my local Summit for a really nice price. Turns out I had some summit bucks

 

You live near a Summit? Lucky you. Your OEM looked like crap. How was fitment height wise with new red top?

 

i got this guy to fit in mine. it was taller and wider than stock

http://www.optimabatteries.com/en-u...roup-31-dual-purpose-deep-cycle-and-starting/

 

Optima site does say that the blue 31 will usually fit where a 27F was. Definitely heavy duty.
.

 

My 4Runner does the same thing even with a aftermarket battery. It's a 2004. My tundra does it some but not near as bad as the 4Runner. I have tried everything on it but still does it. Just figured it was s Toyota thing. Lol