Hi,
It's also, on top of a list of things I need to replace, time for a new battery. Wah wah wah, not so exciting, but needed. On the genuine Toyota parts website it recommends a TrueStart or True2 battery.
Does anyone have experience with either, or recommend a certain battery?
Thank you!!
I use what Consumer Reports recommends. They said that EverStart from Walmart is a great selection. The winter here in Colorado is very cold and summers are hot and dry. Also when you look at the model numbers there will be xxN or xxS. the letters are for North and South, depending on where you do most of your driving. My battery was about $85 with old battery returned.Originally Posted by ToyotaVanNut
i gleaned some partial battery info for our vans from many searches on TVT but didn't see a specific thread. had a minor nonstart issue yesterday on a very cold morning. all battery and starter connections are good and clean and tight.
multimeter reads:
- 12.13V after sitting all night
- 9.3 cranking
- 12.85 charged
battery's 3 1/2 years old (6/2014)
i've read anything down to 9V cranking is ok but not great? a few specific questions:
- i've seen a few posts to buy the biggest battery to fit in our battery box
- but also read this might put more load on our alternators to charge a larger battery
- just wondering does anyone run a bigger battery and how big (brand / size) and does it seem ok?
- and any suggestions on decent good brands? looks like mines an EverStart from Walmart
(size 9" L x 7" W x 9" H)
i've seen Interstate at Fred Meyer - need to check Autozone
thank you!
I've been running a group 29 for a while. A deep cycle of that size typically still has 500 or so cold cranking amps which is plenty for the little 4y unless you live in the bitter cold. You only need to tap out the corners of the cage with a hammer a little (with the cage removed) and it slips right in.
Last edited by Kyle; 12-23-2017 at 11:49 PM.
Went with the biggest group 29 deep cycle RV battery I could find. . Took a small hammer to the the corners of the battery cage to straighten out the in-bend (off the vehicle), remounted the cage, and strapped in the DC. Battery fits great. Had to do a bit of tweaking on the wiring harness to make sure nothing was going to touch metal and short since the battery almost completely fills the compartment. Totally happy with the DC vs a standard car battery. OFC, now that I've got something in there that is boondock worthy I'm thinking of putting in a battery meter and solar charge system as well.
Question on your US vans: does the battery compartment share space with the radiator overflow bottle? On my KM30 Liteace van, it is supposed to. Mine bottle was missing, which I have finally located. Come to find out, it hogs some of the room currently occupied by my battery. Fitting both will require a rather short overall length battery, about 9.5" is all the room there is. Looks like the original spec for mine was a group 75/86, which should barely fit.
The battery compartment on mine s located behind the drivers seat in the passenger bay. It's an actual cage mounted through the floor and held in with 4 bolts that the battery drops into like this ...
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