Weird battery drain issue - high temperature?

A

AKmoney

New member
This past July I drove my truck out to Palm Springs - weather was about 110F. After leaving it parked overnight (nightly lows still in the 90s) the battery was dead the following morning. It was exactly 3 years old - not the original Panasonic. I assumed the heat killed it prematurely and replaced it. Truck started right back up.

No further issues until today - we've been having very warm weather here in SoCal as of late. I drove my truck for the first time in about a week or so today and left it parked out in the sun all day - it got pretty warm although not like 110F warm. By 5pm the battery was dead. Note: it fired right up this morning in my garage.

Any quick ideas on what to check before I start going into full-blown debug mode? I've seen references to JBL Synthesis amps being a possible problem - my truck *does* have JBL, FWIW.
 
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could be your alternator is not charging the new battery. just so you know, heat kills battery since when I had a starting problem, it was the really hot days and nights.

check when the car is running and if the alternator is doing its job. it's possible that your new battery is defective.

AKmoney said:
This past July I drove my truck out to Palm Springs - weather was about 110F. After leaving it parked overnight (nightly lows still in the 90s) the battery was dead the following morning. It was exactly 3 years old - not the original Panasonic. I assumed the heat killed it prematurely and replaced it. Truck started right back up.

No further issues until today - we've been having very warm weather here in SoCal as of late. I drove my truck for the first time in about a week or so today and left it parked out in the sun all day - it got pretty warm although not like 110F warm. By 5pm the battery was dead. Note: it fired right up this morning in my garage.

Any quick ideas on what to check before I start going into full-blown debug mode? I've seen references to JBL Synthesis amps being a possible problem - my truck *does* have JBL, FWIW.
Click to expand...
 
Not heat related (not in SoCal), I have had my '04 since 12/03 and the OG Panasonic lasted till earlier this year. Something else is going on. My 2cents.
 
radlynx said:
could be your alternator is not charging the new battery. just so you know, heat kills battery since when I had a starting problem, it was the really hot days and nights.

check when the car is running and if the alternator is doing its job. it's possible that your new battery is defective.
Click to expand...

Alternator appears to be working. I was able to jump start it and drive it home. Shut it off and it started back up again. HOWEVER, after letting it sit for ~1 hour the battery drained back down to ~10.5V just sitting there and it would no longer start. I jumped it again and with the engine idling I'm getting about 13.85V.

Whatever it is, it must be a pretty significant current draw.

I used my trusty DMM to measure voltage drops across all the mini fuses under the hood and I'm not getting anything more than a 0.1mV drop across any of them with everything turned off. Hmm...
 
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Update: I think it's the battery. Voltage dropped to ~10.8V again within 30 minutes of engine running and subsequently refused to start. I jumped it once more and let the engine idle about ~10 minutes - voltage was ~13.8V while idling. I shut the engine off, measured the voltage at 12+ and immediately disconnected the negative battery terminal. After another 30 minutes with the battery disconnected the voltage dropped back down to ~10.8V again.

I suppose my 3 month old battery could have been a dud but what are the odds of that?
 
you should check the battery post alternator charge (when you're saying its typically 12+) with a load on it. headlights, for example, and measure voltage again. the battery could be sitting with 12+ but there might not actually be 12+ there to power a load. i would try something that pulls at least a few amps.

if the loaded voltage drops significantly then you're pretty secure in saying its the battery. it sounds like it is, but having this problem through multiple batteries makes me think theres a ground or some parasite. the stuck relay someone else mentioned is a great idea.

30 minutes to drain 2 volts still makes me think battery.
 
There's only one other thing I can think of - the battery clamp was loose. Not sure if that contributed to some sort of mechanical failure.

I had AAA replace it back in July - I was away from home on a trip. Perhaps the dude didn't tighten it down all the way? Maybe this is something I should keep my eye on periodically. I'll call them tomorrow morning & tell them to bring me a replacement.

I don't think it's the A/C relay - I can turn the A/C on and off no problem.

Still, it's weird. The truck fired right up this morning after sitting for 4 days and then 8 hours later the battery was kaput. I'm keeping jumper cables in the back from now on just in case.
 
Just replace the battery for piece of mind. Use costco batteries and return them every time they get weird. what you need to check is the amp of the battery. I have a solar ba55. you can be getting 12 volts but have no amps to back it up. Or take it to autozone to check.
 
if you didn't already clean or replace terminals and check water in battery. 3 years for an aftermarket battery is not bad.

just noticed you have an amp make sure your amp is shutting down(unhook remote) check all aftermarket stuff first they are never as high quality as oem.
 
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I had this issue on my 99 a month after buying it. I could see it draining with my multimeter and after pulling my alarm system, swapping my buddys alternator and rechecking fuse for the 100th time it ended up being my led light grounding itself.
So any new upgrades would be first thing I examine. The led bulbs were in for about 1.5 week before I saw issues. Try unhooking things and put a multimeter on the battery.
 
I'm keeping jumper cables in the back from now on just in case.
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Doubt its the heat, out in africa with high temps all day long..batteries still last 1 to 3yrs, n these are usually not usa standard batteries
 
AKmoney said:
I suppose my 3 month old battery could have been a dud but what are the odds of that?
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If it is an Exide made battery, it is very possible. They are notorious for being bad. Ask Sears who had all kinds of problems because they got cheap and switch from Johnson Controls to Exide for their Die Hard Batteries 15 years ago.
 
I have exide battery on both my cars. so far, I'm happy with it.

Sungod said:
If it is an Exide made battery, it is very possible. They are notorious for being bad. Ask Sears who had all kinds of problems because they got cheap and switch from Johnson Controls to Exide for their Die Hard Batteries 15 years ago.
Click to expand...
 
Sungod said:
If it is an Exide made battery, it is very possible. They are notorious for being bad. Ask Sears who had all kinds of problems because they got cheap and switch from Johnson Controls to Exide for their Die Hard Batteries 15 years ago.
Click to expand...

Battery is an Interstate.
 
truckhigh said:
if you didn't already clean or replace terminals and check water in battery. 3 years for an aftermarket battery is not bad.

just noticed you have an amp make sure your amp is shutting down(unhook remote) check all aftermarket stuff first they are never as high quality as oem.
Click to expand...

It's not an aftermarket amp - it's the stock JBL stereo amp. However, it would appear there was a TSB published about a defective batch of these amps that describes a possible source of parasitic battery drain:

http://www.toyotapart.com/PARASITIC_DRAW_FROM_JBL_AMPLIFIER_T-AU001-05.pdf

I do have an aftermarket JVC head unit that I've been using an adapter with to drive the JBL amp. It's worked fine but in light of this I think I'll rip out the stock JBL amp and just use the head unit to power the speakers from here on out. I can't think of anything else in my truck that could create a parasitic draw.
 
Update: AAA came by, tested the battery and indeed it was bad. Alternator and starter tested fine. Battery was replaced under warranty.

In the meantime I plan to rip out the JBL amp this weekend since it's a known source of parasitic battery drain and my 4runner's VIN# falls within the range of affected vehicles.
 
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