OEM battery

So I went on vacation for 7 days. Came back today to a completely dead battery. 2020 with 26k. Jumped it with my wife’s car and started right up. But, I opened up my scanner and the volts where all over the place. From 12.7 to 14.2. It wouldn’t stay put at a constant charge. Turned it off and still completely dead. I have read that it’s covered under the 3/36k warranty but have also read that OEM batteries are junk. But have also read that they don’t install and OEM battery and that they install a True Start battery that is better. I have never had this happen to me after coming back from a weeks vacation and have never seen the volts all over the place. Should I even bother with warranty or just by a battery myself?

 

Use the warranty and then use the cash for mods.

 

Here's something you may find of interest.




Impreza impresses in Boston cold — don’t press your luck





Typical car batteries last about 5 years. (GettyImages)
Ray Magliozzi Click and Clack

Dear Car Talk:

Most people write to you to ask how their car is broken. But I’m wondering how my car was OK.
I live in Boston, and last winter, I was out of state for three months. I was supposed to be gone for seven weeks, but it turned into 13 weeks, as I avoided flying during the Omicron spike and just stayed put.
My 2017 Subaru Impreza sat in the Boston cold from mid-November to mid-February. Then it started up without a pause! How?!
How was my 5-year-old battery alive after two blizzards and a bunch of nights below 10 degrees? How did my fuel not cause starting problems? Was I blessed with a miracle?
I bet my sister $50 my car wouldn’t start. I lost and I’m curious why.

— Claire

I would have lost that $50, too, Claire.
The gasoline would not have posed any problem. It wouldn’t degrade in a few months. And regardless of the temperatures while you were gone, a key factor would have been the temperature on the day you started the car.
So if it was 9 degrees out the week before, but 45 degrees on the day you started the car, the battery might have worked fine. Cold weather diminishes battery power, but only during the cold weather.
What surprises me is that your 5-year-old battery lived to start the car at all. Five years is about how long most batteries last these days. And when modern cars sit, most of them slowly drain your battery in order to power things like the alarm, the computer and the emissions system.
In fact, it’s not unusual for modern cars to not start after they’ve been sitting for three or four weeks, even in good weather.
So I can’t explain The Miracle of the 2017 Impreza, Claire. Maybe it’s the combination of a small engine, a big battery and the fact that you live a good, clean, compassionate life — save for being willing to snatch $50 from your poor sister in the first place.
Now go get a new battery before you run out of luck.
Post questions online at CarTalk.com.

 

Make sure your posts and clamps are clean and free of corrosion..

 

Yeah it’s clean. Only thing I have aftermarket is the 3W Liner auto up-down module, that’s connected straight to the battery. I will probably just put my wife’s Lexus battery in an drive it to the dealer. I don’t feel safe, for the electronics, driving with the voltage all over the place.

 

Spent enough on my vacation. Mods will have to wait. Only mod I have going on right now it the Setrab trans cooler.

 

Interesting. Sorry to hear about your bad luck. It sounds to me like the battery was on its way out, despite it’s relatively young age. The voltage fluctuation is a little odd but it shows that the alternator is producing power to charge things. I wonder if it’s just cutting power intermittently to the battery since the battery is completely dead and it’s seeing more current draw than it wants to. I would try to get it warrantied. If it happens again later on down the road, upgrade it.

I parked my truck for 9 days recently and it fired up no problem when I returned home. I replaced the OE battery at around 50k due to excessive out gassing and corrosion on the terminals leaking down to the battery tray. The battery worked but felt weak when it very hot or very cold. I went with an AGM and it’s been in there for 6 or 7 years. Poor truck never sleeps in the garage and has to start up in -20F conditions sometimes. I’m prolly about due for a new one. I also have a few accessories hardwired to the battery (fused, of course) and luckily none of them draw the battery down. The truck is always drawing voltage to operate the key fob receiver, anti-theft, and such, so newer cars will draw down a battery when parked - much more quickly than older vehicles. But 7 days isn’t even a stretch for modern vehicles.

 

I went to a dealer one time for a new battery covered under warranty on my previous car(Subaru). I had to wait over an hour while they tested it. They put a new OEM battery in, and it also died after a year or two. Bought an optima yellow top and that battery is going strong in a relatives car since I took it out before trading it in for my Tundra. Can you get a new battery under warranty, yes, is it worth the wait at the dealer and then dealing with another crap battery? Depends on what your time is worth. I still have my OEM battery in my tundra with 33k on it but I also plug it into a charger once a week or so and carry a

$129 JNC660 1700 Peak Amp 12 Volt Jump Starter , Blue

JNC660 just incase. If the battery goes I'll replace it with a higher quality one, I've read optima has gone down hill now though so Id research who is putting out the best made in USA batteries when the time comes.

 

The OEM batteries from the factory are simply bad the last several years.. The dealer installed True Start is a much better battery. Take advantage while still under warranty.

 

Well I went the dealer route. Got to the dealers, told them battery died and they replaced it with a True Start battery. Got a new warranty with it and they did my last free oil change. Obviously they left oil all over the oil filter, P/S lines, frame, etc. Reason why I do t do oil changes there but the service advisor saw in the system that it needed it. I told her not to do it but by the time she told me, they had already started it. Whatever, free oil change and just cleaned up their mess.

 

Get the dealer to warranty. Mine died just beyond warranty period so I bought an AGM. Here in the heat of the South they usually only last about 3 yrs. I normally drive with lights in auto mode. When my battery died the truck would only run short period after a jump until I turned lights off.

 

Bought my 2021 in Nov 21'. Went on vacation in May. Two weeks later, dead battery. Jumped it and drove around. Dead again three days later. Took it to dealer outside of the truck with wife's car. Tests were all over the place and they refused to warranty because some came back "OK". Battery was manufactured in Sept 21'. I was pissed but didn't feel like fighting with them to get another POS I couldn't trust so I just went and bought another battery from elsewhere while I figure out the whole AGM 14.8 volt diode thing. I then decided I will just do all my own service too. Same thing happened with my stock Ridgeline battery. They just suck and you can't trust them.

 

^
My true start is approaching it’s 10th Birthday

 

I’ve had 2 true start batteries. 1 in my old Camry and it was almost 5 years old when I sold it. The other true start battery was in my Tacoma and that was 6 yrs old when I sold it. Never had any problems with them. I also had a 76 mile round trip commute so they always had a good charge.

 

The heat here kills them. 2.5 to 3 years is about the max.

 

Take the warranty claim. A free battery for the next 2-4 years shouldn't even be a question in my book.

 

So following this thread and my 2016 will get a new battery soon. Question is the True Start Batteries, where are they available ? so far only see them at dealer web sites..

 

Johnson Controls makes them for Toyota, OEM part, so only available at your dealer.

 

When they are known to fail, and you are out in the middle of nowhere, alone, it is a BIG question.

 

thanks

 

I don't know of any mass instances that Toyota (TrueStart) batteries just randomly failing before 2 years of life, if so that is what warranties are for. If you are getting 2+ years out of any battery you have to know that at some point in the near future failure is inevitable. Just like everything else on a vehicle...over time things fail. If you have more than 4 years or 40k miles on a set of tires they are going to fail at some point so you should replace them so you don't get stuck with a flat tire/blow out in the middle of nowhere, alone, right?

 

Plenty of posts of the stock batteries failing prematurely on this site. This topic pops up at least once a month it seems.
I didn't take a chance, mine was replaced with a Northstar AGM pretty quick. Only batteries I've ever had last 5+ years in the Arizona heat.

 

3 batteries from Toyota (original and 2 Truestart replacements) on a 21 Tundra with under 1k miles in 6 months (tried starting every 3-4 days just to keep it charged) and they kept dying on me.

Finally said enough is enough and bought an Optima yellow top. Ever since then never a problem - even if I let it go a couple of weeks. I hear good things about the Northstar - it was $10 more but would have been on order 4 weeks when they bought the Optima. What I have works so never bothered me. But OE batteries just don’t seem to like not being used daily.

I get AGM can be “finicky” when drained beyond half and not accepting charge - but this is ridiculous. Toyota refused to give me anything but another one of their batteries. I took it and wound up using it on something else.

 

I played the “keep using the warranty” game on my last Tundra, which eventually left me with terminal corrosion that I couldn’t keep up with cleaning. On my current one, I skipped the warranty and bought an AGM when the first one failed under 20k miles. No ragrets.

 

Yep, I replaced my OEM battery with a Northstar several years ago too. Because of my last few remaining brain cells dying lonely and cold, I had a habit of leaving the switch on Accessory after listening to CD's......yes, I'm THAT old!

 

My factory battery in my 17 died almost exactly 2yrs from the day i bought the truck new.And of course it happened on a sunday.Was at my house which was good.ZERO warning that it was going to die also, as it started perfect 3x that morning and then the 4th time as the sky was black and i was trying to close the windows ,BAM nothing ,windows wouldn't even move .

 

Replaced mine 2 weeks ago
2016 platinum 37,700
It is kept in the garage
Went to get something out of it and noticed the interior lights looked a little dim
Checked voltage and was only 10.20
Charged it up, voltage came up to 12.6
Didn’t drive it anywhere
Next morning voltage is back down to 10
Replaced with interstate from Costco 100 bucks. Can’t beat that price. 3 year replacement no questions asked
I guess I was lucky to get exactly 6 years out of it

 

Hmm I wonder how long to go with mine. 2017 61000 still seems fine

 

Yea, mine is a 2016, original battery, 81,000, been shopping for a replacement