I bought my '06 V8 4Runner almost exactly a year ago after looking for two years. One owner, 60k, all services, no damage anywhere, had everything I wanted and a great price. In that time I've put on about 5k miles (it shares commute time with a motorcycle) and have had two problems. The first, a CEL with a bunch of codes, was solved with a $20 OEM gas cap. The second was last night, a nice "clic-clic-clic" after filling up with gas. I opened the hood and saw that the battery, pristine a few weeks ago, was developing a bit of a bluish chalky fuzz on the negative terminal. Man that was fast! Time for a new battery.
I read as many threads as I could find on which battery and how to replace it. My local dealer wanted $200 to replace the sort-of-OEM TrueStart 84-month that was in there, and had lasted 3 years (non-transferable warranty unfortunately.) scratch that. I compared the Autozone offerings with those from Wal-Mart and Sears, then remembered my nearby Batteries Plus sold them too, branded Duracell Ultra Gold. Of all the $150 and under batteries I looked at the Duracell had the best specs and best warranty, and the Batteries Plus folks are always a real pleasure to deal with (they take their batteries very seriously).
I picked up a can of CRC battery terminal cleaner, a big tube of dielectric grease, felt rings and a cheap battery terminal multi cleaner from Autozone and read the excellent threads here on how to change the battery. I then went and got the SLI27FM battery ($120 out the door with October made on date) and got a good lesson from the B+ folks including making sure to clean the heck out of the furry negative cable end, use the felt rings (not a gimmick after all), be very generous with the dielectric grease, and lastly, make absolutely sure the tie downs are tight.
Taking the old battery out was easy - I cleaned the negative terminal as much as I could then removed it, then the positive. Then the tie downs, which were so loose I got them out without even unscrewing them. Out came the bad battery (a strap would have been nice) and I went to work on the negative cable end with the CRC and the brush. That took a while, but after a half a can of CRC and half a roll of blue shop paper towels it was looking pretty good. In went the new battery (perfect fit), on went the felt rings and generous amounts of dielectric grease on the poles, I slipped the tie down under the strap and screwed it down tight going back and forth to ensure no pinching, then on went the positive and then the negative and finally a nice coating of dielectric over both.
Moment of truth - it cranked like a champ and sprang to life. I normalized the back and drivers windows and then the sunroof, and went to reprogram the radio stations but those had all been retained. Total time, maybe an hour because I am slow and methodical. Big thanks to everyone who has contributed here, the knowledge here made it a breeze to do. Call me crazy but it even seems to drive a lot better now.
I guess time will tell but give Batteries Plus a look next time you change batteries. They will even put it in for free, I settled for them carrying it out to my car
I read as many threads as I could find on which battery and how to replace it. My local dealer wanted $200 to replace the sort-of-OEM TrueStart 84-month that was in there, and had lasted 3 years (non-transferable warranty unfortunately.) scratch that. I compared the Autozone offerings with those from Wal-Mart and Sears, then remembered my nearby Batteries Plus sold them too, branded Duracell Ultra Gold. Of all the $150 and under batteries I looked at the Duracell had the best specs and best warranty, and the Batteries Plus folks are always a real pleasure to deal with (they take their batteries very seriously).
I picked up a can of CRC battery terminal cleaner, a big tube of dielectric grease, felt rings and a cheap battery terminal multi cleaner from Autozone and read the excellent threads here on how to change the battery. I then went and got the SLI27FM battery ($120 out the door with October made on date) and got a good lesson from the B+ folks including making sure to clean the heck out of the furry negative cable end, use the felt rings (not a gimmick after all), be very generous with the dielectric grease, and lastly, make absolutely sure the tie downs are tight.
Taking the old battery out was easy - I cleaned the negative terminal as much as I could then removed it, then the positive. Then the tie downs, which were so loose I got them out without even unscrewing them. Out came the bad battery (a strap would have been nice) and I went to work on the negative cable end with the CRC and the brush. That took a while, but after a half a can of CRC and half a roll of blue shop paper towels it was looking pretty good. In went the new battery (perfect fit), on went the felt rings and generous amounts of dielectric grease on the poles, I slipped the tie down under the strap and screwed it down tight going back and forth to ensure no pinching, then on went the positive and then the negative and finally a nice coating of dielectric over both.
Moment of truth - it cranked like a champ and sprang to life. I normalized the back and drivers windows and then the sunroof, and went to reprogram the radio stations but those had all been retained. Total time, maybe an hour because I am slow and methodical. Big thanks to everyone who has contributed here, the knowledge here made it a breeze to do. Call me crazy but it even seems to drive a lot better now.
I guess time will tell but give Batteries Plus a look next time you change batteries. They will even put it in for free, I settled for them carrying it out to my car
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