Dead battery mystery

last year I left the driver door open ... and we went away for almost 4 weeks.
car was in the garage. %100 sure that the head lights and parking light were off.
Also pretty sure that no interior/bed light were manually turned on.
I always leave the interior/bed switches in "Door" position.

came back from vacation and battery was dead as expected!

fast forward to few days ago.
doing some work in the car with door open... after 30? minutes all interior light go off and the odometer display goes off and only a red security? LED is blinking.
The interior light were turned off by a timer I assume and a very nice feature!

but wait, if you buy one we will send you another one for free. Just pay extra shipping and handling!

but wait, how come last year I had a dead battery?
short of having had left a light on manually, is there a scenario where the battery can drain with a door open?

 

Is it still the same battery? May have just gone to hell.

 

yes, still same battery and seems to be as good as new! car starts very strong ... maybe on its last leg, i'll find out this coming summer/winter.

in my most recent case, where the timer turned the interior lights off, the battery was fine. just made me curious as to why the battery died the year before when I left the door open for a much longer time!

 

Go grab a northstar or odyssey

 

Or Optima....

 

Optima batteries aren't what they used to be since they sold the company is what I have heard.

I would stop by one of the auto parts stores and they will test your battery for free. I think you have a bad/going bad battery if it dies within 30 minutes simply by leaving the door open and it keeping the interior light on. It could be a bad cell in the battery, either way, they can test it.

 

The Optima myth has been debunked here on the forum already. There were some minor early production run issues which is quite common when you basically close shop and move to a new facility south of the border. I wish they were still made here. Not because of quality but Americans having a job. My work had the calibration contract with Johnson Controls at their Optima battery facility here in Aurora up to the end. Naturally there were many disgruntled ex employees. Many of the early reviews and comments about Optima quality at the new Mexico plant were made by some of these employees. Many of us here use Optima batteries with no issues. Still the top selling AGM Brand. I don't go by hearsay. Most of the negative comments I read about the new Optima are usually someone stating that they "heard" that Optimas' suck now. Couldn't be further from the truth. I recently bought a second Yellow Top that I'm going to use in a dual setup once I figure that out.

 

Cool, it's good to know because they were once the best battery money could buy. Too bad people trashed them to hurt sales and got that rumor started but I am glad to hear they are as good as they ever were.

 

Just adding that there is like a 50+ page thread on pirate4x4 about this subject, basically saying the same thing.

I’ve had 2 of these sitting idle in my Jeep for over a year. Went to hit the key a couple weeks ago and started right up. This was with everything still connected to it and I’m willing to bet there is a small amount of parasitic draw.

 

The thing is....Optima is #1 selling AGM battery on the planet . Sales are doing quite nicely. NorthStar and Odysseys' are great batteries. So is Optima. All expensive as f**k. Heh...heh

 

I've had my Optima blue top in my Xterra for 5 plus years. Tested it at the shop for the hell of it, still strong as day 1.

 

Optima good??

 

No issues with my opt battery i love it.

 

I've been using the same optima red top for the last 8-10 years in multiple cars. It just keeps going.
I heard all the rumors of the downhill quality of new optimas, and i'm glad to hear its just smoke.

 

Hell yeah!!

 

Hell yeah!!!

 

Hell yeah!

 

TTundra16,
Have you left the truck for 4 weeks without starting since? Sounds like your battery is on its last legs, it is losing enough charge in 4 weeks to start your truck. Regardless if a door was left open or not.

 

Yep..time for a new battery...

 

there's a timer that shuts off most everything after 30 or so minutes but small consuming items still stay powered up.clock,ecu,body controller etc... draw continuously so after 4 weeks it's mostly normal for battery to be depleted.

 

It could be a newer car feature to draw more juice ... idk

Left my old Tacoma unused for over 2 months with a 6 or 7 years old battery and it started right up!

 

My 2008 Tundra with factory tow package has been having the battery die after a day or two. I replaced the battery with a yellow-top hybrid battery, since I also tow a 5th wheel so the deep-cycle properties of the hybrid are great. Nothing is plugged into a lighter port, and the only "aftermarket" device is the controller for the trailer brake. It doesn't turn on unless the key is in the "start" position or the truck is running. Replacing the battery did exactly ZERO for the problem. I'm tearing my hair! I have to jump it every 2 days or less to use it at all, and I've ensured that it's fully charged before turning it off.

I have to wonder, I keep the tailgate removed most of the time. Is it possible that something's going on with that wire back there? HELP!

 

I wonder if the "Door Ajar" lamp is also shut off after 30 minutes? After 4 weeks, that would probably be enough to do the deed.

 

When the tail gate is removed, my 2017 Owner Manual says there should be two protective covers, one white for the body harness end, and one gray for the tail gate harness end. Maybe the covers are supposed to come with the truck, but I never found mine.

You might try finding those covers (at least the white one), cleaning up the harness contacts, and installing the protective cover if you think that could be the cause.

 

I would not use a deep cycle for a starting battery in anything. Wont hurt it but they just don't have the CCAs. My boat requires a non-deep cycle for a starting battery. You need to have your alternator checked. I bet it is not keeping up with the discharge rate. Too bad these new trucks don't have amp meters like my old Ford did. I could easily tell when alternator was not charging. Like when all my KCs were on.

 

I looked at the Optima site and they say they do not have a battery for my 2018 Tundra with the 5.7L engine. What model Optima is everyone using?

Dan

 

D27F yellow top. Same for 07 to 19
CA=1000
CCA=830
AH=66
RC=140
If you require more then check out Northstar or Odyssey

 

Excellent, thanks!

I've used AGM batteries on my motorcycles for years and they are the absolute best. I should spring for one for my Tundra even though it is just over a year old.

Dan

 

We've had some members here with new Tundras and have had battery failure in a year , more with a 2 year failure.