Replacement Starting Battery

[4x4mike]

Winter is here and I think my battery has gone kaput. I ran a Die Hard Platinum in my old Chevy and I liked it a lot. That truck had a big engine compartment as well as a large battery tray so it fit a lot of different batteries with no problems.

The question I have is if anyone is running one of these batteries now. And if so if they had any fitment issues that they didn't have with the stock battery. There is another thread here on UY that mentions the larger size of the battery housing. I don't remember mine being extra big but I do remember my red top was small in every dimension.

I have moved my battery 90 degrees from the stock location to make room for my OBA. I'm wondering if I can fit a larger battery than stock.

The 4runners have a group 35 battery, right? This one looks taller than my current one.
Battery in question (http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_02850035000P?vName=Automotive&cName=Batteries+%26+Chargers&sName=Automotive+Batteries)

[Whitey]

What do you have that requires an expensive battery? There are batteries that are ultra reliable for 1/2 the price.

[4x4mike]

After 2 redtops and some other battery with my truck I found the Platinum to be the most reliable out there for the price, not to mention the specs.
I like to have the reserve power and don't want to have to upgrade later. If and when I get a bumper I'll be putting my winch on and then maybe some lights. I need the battery now so I might as well belly up and not have to deal with replacing a perfectly fine battery next year or so.

Off topic but Lance, didn't you say something about having a lead on the TJM bumpers? I'm interested.

[Good Times]

Mike,

I threw in two P1's and they're definitely too big in comparison to the stock batteries. I thought they'd be about the same size if not slightly bigger than the yellow tops but unfortunately it was like over an inch too big. Bah, just made some new mounts and now it's all good.

So far the batteries are working superbly though I'm probably not the most reliable source since I haven't really driven the 4runner much :)

I'll find out more details on the TJM for ya.

[RobG]

I just put a Platinum P-1 (group 34) in my 2nd gen runner and it fits just fine. Much bigger than the red top it replaced but a good fit. I thought group 34 was standard for 2nd gens, pretty sure you don't have a 2nd gen though.

[4x4mike]

I've got a '99 3rd gen.
Ok so now I'm a little stumped. For the past month I've been having symptoms of a worn out starter. I've seen the write ups for replacing the solienoid contacts and I thought that's what I needed. Well fast forward to Sunday. When I tried to start it would click once when I pushed the key to the start position and then nothing. When I pushed it into start again it would click once. This is consistant with what I had been experiencing. One Sunday my DMM said the battery was at 12.6V after sitting for at least 24 hours. After 2 or 3 tries and the corisponding clicks the voltage went down to 12.4V. On say the 5th try the engine turned over like nothing ever happened. While it was turning over the DMM read about 10.4, then about 12 then about 14.4 while the engine was running.

This morning I got about 5 clicks. I pushed the unlock button on the door to open the hatch to get my jump starter. When I did this the locks moved real slow, as if the battery was dead. I got the jump starter, hooked up and tried to start, nothing just a click. Everytime I've used the jump starter the vehicle fires up on the first try. I tried about 2 more times and nothing but the single click. I went into the garage and got my DMM and the battery read 12.3V. After letting the jump starter sit on there for about a minute I tried again. The engine turned over but really slow, like a dead or dying battery. I drove 2 miles to the train station and expected to have to jump it when I got home from work. I get off the train after the car sitting all day and it fires up first try like nothing was ever wrong.

Now I'm no expert but after reading the starter fixes it sounds like I'm a canidate for the repair. It also seems like I need a new battery. I don't want to run out and drop 200 bucks if I have a good battery but I also don't want to be fussing around with this. In a perfect world I'd do both fixes and go wheeling but with work and the holidays it might be a week. What do you all think?

[4x4mike]

See what kind of draw you're getting while trying to restart it after driving it for a bit. Mine has over 104k on it now, and my contacts (knock on wood) looked fine.


Draw is in amps? Or how much the voltage drops when the engine is turning over. I guess I hadn't checked that since driving it around.

[MTL_4runner]

I've got a '99 3rd gen.
Ok so now I'm a little stumped. For the past month I've been having symptoms of a worn out starter. I've seen the write ups for replacing the solienoid contacts and I thought that's what I needed. Well fast forward to Sunday. When I tried to start it would click once when I pushed the key to the start position and then nothing. When I pushed it into start again it would click once. This is consistant with what I had been experiencing. One Sunday my DMM said the battery was at 12.6V after sitting for at least 24 hours. After 2 or 3 tries and the corisponding clicks the voltage went down to 12.4V. On say the 5th try the engine turned over like nothing ever happened. While it was turning over the DMM read about 10.4, then about 12 then about 14.4 while the engine was running.

This morning I got about 5 clicks. I pushed the unlock button on the door to open the hatch to get my jump starter. When I did this the locks moved real slow, as if the battery was dead. I got the jump starter, hooked up and tried to start, nothing just a click. Everytime I've used the jump starter the vehicle fires up on the first try. I tried about 2 more times and nothing but the single click. I went into the garage and got my DMM and the battery read 12.3V. After letting the jump starter sit on there for about a minute I tried again. The engine turned over but really slow, like a dead or dying battery. I drove 2 miles to the train station and expected to have to jump it when I got home from work. I get off the train after the car sitting all day and it fires up first try like nothing was ever wrong.

Now I'm no expert but after reading the starter fixes it sounds like I'm a canidate for the repair. It also seems like I need a new battery. I don't want to run out and drop 200 bucks if I have a good battery but I also don't want to be fussing around with this. In a perfect world I'd do both fixes and go wheeling but with work and the holidays it might be a week. What do you all think?


Mike, that voltage reading should be plenty to turn over the motor and get it fired up, but I would take it to a store and have it load tested just to be 100% sure that's not your issue. My vote would be to first take apart, wire brush all the battery contacts and double check all the wire crimps, then make sure they are all snug again. Finally that would indicate a starter issue. I'd leave that as the last resort though.

[RobG]

I was having some very strange starting issues last month that I thought was the starter. Sometimes it started fine, other times not. Usually you would have to hold the key 5-10 seconds before anything would happen. My battery charger kept failing to charge indicating something was wrong with the battery but it started fine most of the time.

Replaced the battery (4 year old red top) and all issues went away. It could have been the connections but I'm pretty sure it was the battery. Just a point of reference for you, not sure what is up with yours.

[4x4mike]

Mike, that voltage reading should be plenty to turn over the motor and get it fired up, but I would take it to a store and have it load tested just to be 100% sure that's not your issue. My vote would be to first take apart, wire brush all the battery contacts and double check all the wire crimps, then make sure they are all snug again. Finally that would indicate a starter issue. I'd leave that as the last resort though.

After yesterday evening and this morning I'm pretty sure it's the starter contacts. The last 2 times I've driven the thing starts up like nobodys business. The single clicking that I was experiencing leads me to the starter.
The battery is 2 years old at the most and looks brand new. The terminals are spotless and my battery leads are new from when I did my OBA install and had to move the battery. Looks like I'm going to stop buy the dealer to get some rebuild parts. Apparently this is a common issue.

[Tanto]

Some marine battery terminals work great since they're very thick and slightly oversized, so they cover the entire post. Had some issues with the stock ones and haven't had ANY problems since I switched.

FYI, the Odyssey batteries (1200 series) are thinner by almost 2" but are 1/2" or 3/4" taller if I remember correctly. When I put mine in, the threads for the holddown clamp barely threaded in, but no clearance issues with the hood. Pricey batteries though.

[4x4mike]

I think the problem is with the starter so I'm going to be doing the starter contact replacement. There isn't a write up here for it so I might document the replacement process. There are a few places online that have write ups but they are for older starters.

[MTL_4runner]

I think the problem is with the starter so I'm going to be doing the starter contact replacement. There isn't a write up here for it so I might document the replacement process. There are a few places online that have write ups but they are for older starters.


I can walk you through it if you get stuck because I took out the starter when I did my motor swap and had the starter apart ready to replace the contacts, but never did because the auto-electric store was closed on the weekend I opended it up. I think you'll find it a very easy job once you've gotten the starter out.

[4x4mike]

Yep pretty easy.
http://www.ultimateyota.com/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=26&topic=6151.0