What have you done to your 2nd gen Tundra today?

@tnbndr just clips that pops out easily. lift the front with a trim tool then it pops out. 5 of them iirc.
takes 2 min to remove.

 

I put new shoes on the tundie yesterday. MICHELIN defender LTX 275/65R18. It got a bath today to wash all the bead soap and road salt off. Definitely got the underbody wash this time.


Do y'all fold your mirrors in for a car wash? How ridged are the mirror hinges?

 

@blackdemon_tt is it battery slayer or slave? What was the cause of the drain?

 

LOL, probably both... went through 9 Toyota batteries in about 18 months... and now 4 Optimas (13 total so far).. and occasionally they die... Toyota and their "engineers" frown from Japan and/or Texas couldn't figure it out either... No draws though, I've already gone down that road... maybe its just me... LOL...

 

Not even a parasitic draw from a fuse?

I remember my grandma had a s10 (90s) that murdered batteries. Ended up being visor light not shutting off from a busted trigger switch and you can't see it by design ( closed mirror cover and upright visor).

 

LOL... don't have that kind of tech... but its been doing it since new... maybe its the alternator slightly overcharging the battery... since I did ask for the bigger alternator at the time.... don't remember if it was a gimmick or not, so that may be it... I still have the build sheet somewhere, so I'll have to look at it...

 

I'd check how long the warranty is.

 

You need to check the parasitic draw over a long period of time with an oscilloscope. Some defective modules can turn on minutes or hours after you shut off the key and kill the battery. Checking the old school way with a multimeter and pulling fuses wont find this.

 

Toyota tried this method and never found anything... They kept it on the lot for a 2 week period, because at that point it had gone through 6 Toyota batteries in 6 months... service advisor knew me by name by then... so they opted to retain it for additional inspection, they claimed they would bring in some engineers from HQ and Texas to check it out... They gave it a green light and clean bill of health, still went through 3 more 3 months later... At that point they offered an Optima Yellow top free99, cuz it was ridiculous, so I took it... That one lasted about 6 months before it died, and was replaced under the warranty... I moved out to San Diego, where the new one lasted a few years, before I replaced 2 Optimas the last 3 years... The last one (or the one I have right now) was not really necessary as I was troubleshooting a dead starter and replaced it as insurance had a month left on the warranty, so it kinda worked out for me, but they keep discharging when its cold out... it also killed a red top one, but I don't count it as it was a transplant from my MR2.... I may retake it in and request a new diagnostic as you stated, its just finding a trusty mechanic to do it...

 

Garmin all mounted and wired with front camera

(ignore the podcast I was listening to about a former addict lol)

 

I would confirm that the charging system is not seriously over-charging the battery. If you never have to jump start it, but the battery stops holding a charge after less than 5 years I wouldn't look for a short draining the battery. I'd expect either the charge voltage being too high or the charge cycles being too long.

AGM batteries (e.g. Optimas) like higher charge voltage than standard lead-acid batteries. That may be why they last longer than the stock batteries. Since your AGMs are lasting longer, but still failing abnormally soon I would expect serious over-charging as the cause.

The heavy-duty alternator that's part of the towing package should give you extra charging capacity, but it shouldn't cause this problem if it's working properly.

What is your voltage at the battery terminals when the truck is running?

 

Congrats on your continued sobriety! A hell of a drug to beat!

 

You may be right on overcharging... it's never boiled a battery... I use to get jumped all the time with older batteries and have stalled quite a few times due to a dead battery.. This is what usually lead me to the stealership every 3 to 6 weeks or so for a replacement... I've taken the optimas to get recharged avoiding jumps to be honest... lately theres barely enough juice to turn it over, but it will struggle for a while with the idle..... 30 minutes later it's good to go... I'll have to verify the voltage at the battery and report back.

 

Spa day!

 

Dechromed front end for about $7 in Plasti-Dip.

 

Rock sliders are finally here

 

Looks great! Did the same with mine this summer. Great looking “Mod” and costs less then a six pack!

 

I have had my tundra crewmax for nine years. Two weeks ago changed speakers to focal plug and play. Today I added

$290 alpine ktp445u alpine KTP-445U universal power pack

alpine ktp445u. Oh my God should have done this years ago.

 

Which Focal speaker system did you go with? I've got a 2012 CM I'd like to replace the speakers in.

 

How was the install? I've read some horror stories on RRW fitment issues, but they're some of the nicest looking sliders and you can't beat the pricing.

Looks great!

 

The install of speakers was easy. As for for Alpine 445u, just bought harnesses

$11 71-1761 87 - 94 Toyota Vehicle Harness

71-1761&

$5 70-1761 Radio Wiring Harness For Toyota 87-Up Power 4 Speaker

70-1761 no need to cut wires. It fit in dashboard and best buy only charged me $60. Lucky for me he showed me everything. Oh and still using factory stereo.

 

Did your run new wire for the speakers? I picked up some Focals too and thinking about installing my own system

 

Was not necessary.

 

Are your speakers the plug and play? If they are just take out old put in new and click in wires.

 

I picked up some harnesses but, thinking about running my own wires to get the best out the speakers LOL.

 

Wouldn't hurt listening using same wires first. I'm just frugal.

 

Some new shoes, pretty stoked. I did like the Michelin’s that were on there, but pretty much gone and no good for winter driving.

 

I recently got my Michelin defenders and I love them. Snow, ice, rain, all week and I haven't had any problems.

What didn't you like about them? Did you have the LTX or Defender LTX?