Optima batteries

jimisouljah

jimisouljah

Active Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2008
Location
Kannapolis
:confused:
Every time I let my 4runner sit for more than 3 or 4 days the battery dies. This has become quite aggrivating to say the least. I am on my 2nd Optima red top. Had the same problem with the first one and found out a cell had gone bad in less than a year. Luckily it was under warrenty. The only thing I know that stays on all the time is a clock on the dash.

How do I go about trying to figure out what's killing the battery. I've tried to figure it out before but had no luck.
 
Need a multi meter, a pair of needle nose pliers and some time. Put the meter into amp mode the unhook the pos side of the battery and put the meter inline. See what your amp draw(may have to use the mA setting, but always start high and work your way down to the lowest setting). Starting pulling fuses one at a time until it stops having a draw and that is the circuit that is giving you the trouble. I would have the battery checked first, I've seen ALOT of the new red tops have problems.
 
jimisouljah said:
Every time I let my 4runner sit for more than 3 or 4 days the battery dies.
Click to expand...

Had the same issue on the Moss... started with dead battery after a couple months and progressed into only needing a week to drain completely down.

I ended up going through a butt load of batteries (several Redtops, an Orbital, & a couple other SLAs... luckily ALL were under warranty) before it stopped. I don't know what it was, but HIGHLY suspect it was something in the ignition circuit (not the key switch, but from the battery to coil/MC ign. box) that was either shorted or wrong... because once I tore it ALL out during the TBI install (hybrid MC dizzy/GM TFI coil/EST), the dead battery issue stopped (never did troubleshoot it :lol:). It'll sit for months now and fire on the first twist of the key.

Follow Snappy's instructions and you'll find it...
 
I would suspect the electrical system before the new battery. I haven't had a single bit of trouble out of mine in years. It will sit for months and start instantly.
 
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