BATTERY ISSUE

[CROCO]

Hi everyone, I was cleaning and polishing my kluger on the weekend and I had the radio on for about 5 hours, the radio in my kluger is the optional factory sat nav, I turned the interior lights off and no other accesories was on , only the coutesy lights on the doors, I went and wound the windows down the radio shut down, my first thought that station went off the air, but when I wound down each window the radio did the same thing and I noticed the lights in the dash went very dim, and I tried to see if the car would start no luck it was as dead as door nail, the battery is the original one that the car was manufactoured with, so my first thought was the battery was due to be replaced, so I charged it up with my ctek battery charger on recon mode for 24 hours and the battery starts the car like a champion, even this morning on a cold -4c dubbo morning and it started up as good as a new battery, the battery did the same thing 6months earlier, it did the same thing, I had the radio on, but that time I didnt have it on as long , I went to trying start the car and it wouldnt even wind over, so I did the same charge up with the ctek on recon mode, and it has performed faultlasy until last weekend, I thought while my kluger was getting the seat fixed, I would get the battery tested to see how it performs on load test,so they did the load test and it passed, the service advisor said that you only need to have the radio on for about a couple of hours when its a factory sat nav radio head unit and the battery will be flat, even if its a new battery, there very hungry on power and the electrics draw a lot of current, so im wondering is that true or anyone had the same exsperience with their kluger with the factory satnav flatening their battery or is it my battery on its last legs, I have never had this problem before with the radio flattening the battery before when I had it on for a few hours, I remember once I had the radio on in my old prado all day while I was cleaning it from a weekend away and the battery didnt even think about dying, the prado started right up, no problems, so I would love to hear peoples thought and exsperiences, would be greatly appreciated. cheers david.

[11/16Aurion 12Kluger]

Hi David.

I find it hard to believe that radio/satnav unit would chew a battery out that fast?

I have seen on the US Kluger (Highlander) site where some time back there was a (USA) TSB issued for something to do with inadequate charging from the alternator. It is in here somewhere...

http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/122-2nd-generation-2008-2012/

It's a shame that Toyota Australia considers their customers to be idiots and prevents access to such information here.

Tip... Do you have a multimeter?? If so set it to DC & higher than 20V and note the reading prior to starting.

Start the motor and see what it reads then... it should be much higher which will indicate the alternator is charging ok.

It is not unusual for a battery to last 10yr + in a Toyota under normal circumstances. Your's being only 5yo should be ok... btw, how many k's on it?

Another tip... if you park your car in a garage overnight do not leave the keys in the ignition. I was told that this will shorten your battery life in modern cars.

Cheers M8... let us know the outcome. :-)

[CROCO]

Thanks barney your a champion, I havent got a multimeter, but there pretty cheap these days so I get one and see what it does, its got the original battery and the car has 87000kms on it, I looked what brand of battery it was and it was a panasonic battery which was made in japan,so the quality would be top notch, I know a number of people who use panasonic cordless drills and they love them, the batteries last heaps longer than anything out there.

I hoping theres nothing wrong with the altinator, but its under warranty so I guess it wouldnt be to bad, I admit its being cold and foggy the last week here in dubbo so that wouldnt help either, but I wait and see what happens.

I never knew that about the keys in the ignition would help drain the battery, I remember that, thanks mate for putting me on the us toyota web site theres a heap of great information on their , I was reading some of the posts and their having similar issues what we are having over here, it also gives you a heads up on other problems that might occur in the future, I wonder how many highlanders they sell over in the states and canada against the rest of the would, because there moving production next yaer from japan to the states, but apprantly there been building highlanders over there for a while now.

Edited July 4, 2012 by CROCO

[11/16Aurion 12Kluger]

Yes David... I reckon they would have as many kluger/highlanders on the road over there as we have people LOL. The good side is theirs is virtually identical to ours, the 3.5v6 anyway. They also have 4 cyl and hybrid.

Panasonic battery should be top quality as you say.

Another "old timers" way to check if an alternator is working without a multimeter is to turn the lights on and while you are watching the lights get someone to start the car. If the lights go brighter when it starts then the alternator is working.

Cheers M8

[viper33]

Lol battery life 10 years? Hahaha never heard that one before, maybe in some rare cases

Once a lead acid battery has been drained completely it will never be as good as it was before, regardless of whether you charge it up or not

You say you've drained it flat 2-3 times already and its got over 87,000ks on it, thats around 4-5 years use and abuse? Long enough for a decent battery to last

[CROCO]

Yes David... I reckon they would have as many kluger/highlanders on the road over there as we have people LOL. The good side is theirs is virtually identical to ours, the 3.5v6 anyway. They also have 4 cyl and hybrid.

Panasonic battery should be top quality as you say.

Another "old timers" way to check if an alternator is working without a multimeter is to turn the lights on and while you are watching the lights get someone to start the car. If the lights go brighter when it starts then the alternator is working.

Cheers M8

I must of put a curse on my self, I went to start up our territory this morning and I heard the dreaded click and nothing, she was dead as doh doh, so I jumped started it and drove it around tyre service centre for a new battery a battery test and it was buggered, it also the original battery like the kluger, but the battery doesnt look as good a quality as the klugers battery, but it is 5 years old so im pretty happy with it,I tried the lights as you said without the engine running and with the engine running and you can definitly tell the lights are a lot brighter with the engine running, so I think my alternator is working ok, I could also see when I turned the engine off the interior light went slightly dimmer, so I see in a couple of weeks if the kluger will start, im going up to the northen territory for a couple of weeks and the kluger sitting in the garage not driven in all that time,we will see if she starts, she mighten start for spite, as I didnt take her on holidays , but Im pretty happy with life and performance I got out of that battery, so replacing wouldnt be a drama.

I was looking up on the internet and I saw that the 4cyl highlanders have a 6speed auto, I wonder why they didnt put 6speed auto on the v6 models like the aurion, which is a similar platform,I also wonder next year when they shift all the production of the kluger and highlander over to the states, they will bring a new model out I guess we will have to wait and see.

[CROCO]

Lol battery life 10 years? Hahaha never heard that one before, maybe in some rare cases

Once a lead acid battery has been drained completely it will never be as good as it was before, regardless of whether you charge it up or not

You say you've drained it flat 2-3 times already and its got over 87,000ks on it, thats around 4-5 years use and abuse? Long enough for a decent battery to last

I have heard draining your battery right down reduces its life, I was reading the instruction manuel on jump pack and it said dont let the batteries get drained more than 50% as this will shorten battery life considerable, back in the olden days with drill batteries , they use to say always run them down before charging other wise the batteries will get a memory and wont gharge to their full capacity, now its the opposite draining them reduces their life, I know I got off the subject of car batteries, but theres similarities in the way batteries perform, I got 7 years out of the battery in my old commodore, I know the commodore wouldnt have the power hungry electronics and technology the kluger has, but it was a 2000 model so it would still have fairly advanced electronics that require a good battery to run them. anyway as I said before Iam more than willing to replace battery with a new one, anyway we will wait and see how the battery goes, cheers david.

[11/16Aurion 12Kluger]

Lol battery life 10 years? Hahaha never heard that one before, maybe in some rare cases

What are you basing your "ha ha ha" on?? School yard gossip?

The car in question was a 2000 V6 Camry and talking to several people in the motor trade it is N O T unusual at all with Toyotas and also some other Jap/Korean makes to still have good battery life after that amount of time. Holdens, Fords and the like are more demanding on batteries for whatever reason.

I can attest to this as I have been driving and fiddling with cars of many makes for almost 50 years and have had to replace batteries on many occasions, some after 2 years.

I would say without a doubt that by the way you express yourself you are not so experienced.

It is not so much the amount of gadgets fitted to a car but the design and engineering quality that goes into it that can result in prolonged battery life.

Quality batteries and alternators do make a difference also and this is where some manufacturers penny pinch.

For example a car that is always parked outside in all weather will have a shorter battery life than one that is garaged... and many other things affect battery life as well.

If the acid level in a "modern" battery is disipating under normal use indicates a fault unless there has been abnormal use such as lights left on, high powered amplifiers and spotlights. An electrical stystem that is maintained in a modern vehicle will rarely use acid.

They are not like windscreen washer bottles.

Edited July 9, 2012 by KX-R & ACV40R

[viper33]

If after 50 years of experience with cars you think that 10 years battery life is easily achievable then i think your experience would have nothing to do with batteries at all or it would have to do with cars where the battery is only used on start up and never gets drained

The more the gadgets/electronics a car has the more power it consumes, so the same battery is working harder than it would in a car without any extra accessories

Not to mention the fact that in a car with a radio its pretty to common to see people leaving the radio on for a few mins to an hour or more with the engine off, the occasional i forgot to turn my lights off, ah crap left the interior light on, jumpstart this jumpstart that all adds to shorten the batterys life

You'd have to have one very lucky battery for your car if you keep abusing it and it still lasts 10 years, the only way it can maybe last that long is with proper care, topping up water every now and then, leaving it plugged in to a low amp charger, never letting it drain completely etc etc

And the amount of people who do that are almost none so yes 10 years is not exactly achieveable and any mechanic who claims otherwise hasn't had much experience with batteries

[mark213]

My 4 year old 2008 Grande did something similar recently. I left the internal light on one night by mistake. Next day no go. Engine would try to tick/turn but no go. Tried the emergency start but the battery was too weak. Got some jump leads and bang first time all ok!

Weird thing it was only 4 year old battery - original dealer stock. The health indicator on the battery said all was fine, so I left it saying it was me...

Then 2 weeks later - had all the doors open vacuuming the inside and the fans blowing, acc on, (no lights bar internal ones) and sat nav/radio on. Approx 1.5 hrs later again no start.

Im assuming a weak battery but now i think about it I dont know....

[viper33]

You do realise that anything including the fan, radio, sat nav or even a door open sensor going off is draining your battery if the engine isn't running

Coz Im finding it pretty funny how people abuse their batteries and then question why it won't start their car

[CROCO]

Hi everyone, sorry I havnt replied for a while, I have been on holidays .

I admit having a fan or heater will drain the battery quiet quickly, but I only had the interior the radio on and it was only the coutousy lights in the door on and thats it, Iam still surprised that would drain a battery that quick, as I said before I had the radio on my other cars longer than that and I had no problems, I washed my old prado and had the radio on pretty much all day and I love my music , so I have it cranked up, and it never had any problems starting after having the radio on for that length of time.

Its not uncommen to get 6 to 7 years out of a battery, my old commodore, 7years and my parents old daewoo, 7 years, I admit I havent acheived 7 years out of a battery since owning the commodore, but anything possible.

[CROCO]

Hi everyone, I bought a projecta battery altinator tester from repco, so this morning tested the battery, the battery tester read half charge, then I tested to see if the altinator charging properly, so I started the engine and idled the engine with all my lights on and with the ac on high and the tester read it was charging propaly, it passed with flying coulours and then I stoped the engine to check the battery health and the battery read fully charged, so now I know my altinator is charging propaly without a problem, the battery was reading half charge before the engine was started, and after I ran the engine the tester read fully charged so whether or not thats normal or the battery is not holding its charge im not sure, but the car starts like a champion even when I was away for two weeks, I went and started after two weeks of not been driven and the kluger fired right up no problem, so maybe my toyota mechanic was right you cant leave the later radios on in modern cars for more than a hour, especially with a gps unit in the head unit..

[CROCO]

Hi everyone, the old battery finally died after 5 1/2 years, I went to start it on saturday and heard the dreaded click, so I charged it with the ctek battery charger all weekend and it started good this morning, but this time I went to get it tested properly and it still read not to bad for a old battery it was down a bit, considering it had been fully charged, so I bit the bullet and bought a battery, while the old battery started fine , it fires up much faster and easier now than it has ever since if owned the car, so maybe it was the battery all along because on saturday morning I only had the two front door courtesy lights on for a bout 2 hours and the battery was dead, so now I hope the new battery is going to last as long as the old one. fingers crossed LOL

[11/16Aurion 12Kluger]

I had a 10 y/o v6 camry with the original factory battery in it and it was still good when i sold it.
Some cars are lucky for the battery to last 2 years!!

[CROCO]

Funny you should say that, at work we replaced the battery in our forklift, while it was getting serviced,it was starting to be a bit slow to start ,it was 9 years old, the mechanic said if you get 2 years out of a battery in fork lift your doing well ,let alone 9 years, the battery wasnt a big or exspensive battery, just a small century battery, so it definetly luck.

The most years I got out of a battery would be 7 years, that was in my old commodore, since then i only averaged 5 years out of a battery in all my other cars.

[Esyd]

We have a 2003 Kluger. It had its original Japanese made battery until the end of 2015. Maybe the only reason we get 2 to 5 years with local batteries is: that is how they are made. Well done Panasonic/Japan.

[David Anthony]

Hi there

i changed my battery in the kluger and now the automatic boot doesn’t work.

Any ideas??

[MathewPN]

See if you have turned off the remote boot lid button inside the glove box ( you can find it next along the glove box door, towards the center console ) ?