Weird battery issue

[ir0nma1den]

Last week I noticed that I would have to hold the key in the start position for longer than usual to get the engine going. I left town for a week and came back to my 4runner unable to turn over. Instead, I get a rapid clicking sound which I think is the starter, but no turn over. I replaced the contacts and solenoid in my starter (8/17, 50k miles ago). My battery is definitely old (5/18) but I have a suspicion that it has something to do with the fuse. When I have the key turned to the on position, my dash, radio, and antenna start to work but they will all suddenly shut off after about 2 seconds and try to turn on again, repeating the cycle. This makes me think it’s a relay or fuse. The battery also seems to drain quickly as I got it jumped which didn’t help at all.

 

[jgue467]

I would start by checking the overnight sitting voltage of the battery, s/b at least 12.6 or more to effectively spin the engine over fast.

Also make sure the battery cables are tight. Let us know what you found.

 

[the_welfare_wagon]

I would just bite the bullet and get a 50 dollar battery from Walmart. Eliminate the most obvious thing first before trying to delve into anything wiring/electrical related


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[Ripper238]

I would just bite the bullet and get a 50 dollar battery from Walmart. Eliminate the most obvious thing first before trying to delve into anything wiring/electrical related


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Totally agree. Sounds like a well worn Battery or poor connections.

 

[ir0nma1den]

Per the recommendations in this thread, I picked up a 24F interstate battery from Costco. So far, so good, the engine spun right up. Is there anything I should be doing to monitor the battery to make sure there isn't some fault in the electrical system?

 

[the_welfare_wagon]

I would just make sure the terminal clamps are clean to ensure a good connection


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[brillo_76]

It's either a battery cell failed or you have a bad short draining it.

A battery cell can fail in an instant. I have had this happen 2 or 3 times now.

To test. Have the battery fully charged and remove the terminals check the voltage. Let it sit a day or so with rerninals off and check it again. If there is a significant drop, the battery is junk. If it's at the same voltage the battery is most likely ok and you have a bad short.

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[HiLife]

A battery cell can fail in an instant. I have had this happen 2 or 3 times now.

To test. Have the battery fully charged and remove the terminals check the voltage. Let it sit a day or so with rerninals off and check it again. If there is a significant drop, the battery is junk. If it's at the same voltage the battery is most likely ok and you have a bad short.

The roads are really bad with deep pot holes roads where I am. And I had my share of a shorted cell on numerous wet batteries.

For testing, after having the battery sitting over night, without activating any lighting or voltage drain, a good rule of thumb of surface battery voltage is:

12.65 100% fully charged
12.50 90% charged
12.45 75% charged
12.35 60% charged
12.25 50% charged
12.06 25% charged
11.90 discharged

 

[jross20]

In case it helps anyone, I recently had an issue in which the truck would start but act kind of weird. So like the radio would turn on even though it was off, the air conditioner would make a weird noise, like the blower motor I mean. And then the very next time that I turned it on everything lit up, the headlights flashed and then the truck was totally dead. It ended up being one of the battery terminals. Even though it looked fine it basically has slowly disintegrated and it was only momentarily connecting.

So I would check your terminals too and make sure that they're not loose on the wire end.

 

[Clickx]

your battery 100%, otherwise it would be ground/ poor positive connection.

 

[enginelover]

Is there anything I should be doing to monitor the battery to make sure there isn't some fault in the electrical system?

First thing I do is label the battery the day I get it with the warranty information because you'll forget all that. I write it on a piece of paper, often that's the back of a copy of the receipt, and then I fold it (to protect it) and tape it with clear packing tape onto the backside of the battery so that it's always there whenever the battery does fail.

Then you can coat the lead terminals and brass zinc-coated cable ends with dielectric goop, where it's often only the positive that gets those whitish greenish yellowish crusty deposits.

Also, I put a sheet of rubber from an old tire tube under the clamp to protect a tiny bit from vibration since the cells shaking loose their solids is what shorts out the plates as they fall to the bottom and fill up the space between the plates to the point that each plate shorted out lessens the open circuit voltage until finally the battery can suddenly die on you.

Every few months you pop off the cell covers to top off with H2O - if necessary - although if it takes a LOT of water, then you may need to charge it separately (but usually you don't need to put it on a charger).

If it sits for months, then you can trickle charge as needed.

Regarding the H2O... water is water... although city water is different from well water and every well has different chemical compositions too... but the question is whether or not those differences matter in terms of reality - realpolitik, so to speak. Sure they matter theoretically. But do they matter in real life use? I'm not convinced they do. Anyway, I used to use tap water for a long time but most people would scream bloody murder if they saw you use that. At the astute advice of a friend (who saw me use tap water), I recently started to collect rain water - which is essentially distilled water - and yes - I'm aware that if you live in a city - it may be even more acidic than rainwater normally is (rain is acidic from the carbon dioxide - not the sulfur dioxides which don't really exist anymore in any great measure). I use that rain distilled water for my clothes iron and car batteries (and for filling up the water in the summer windshield washer fluid with a dab of Dawn dish detergent). I'm not big on buying something that I don't see any real scientific information that matters if you bought it.