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Old 08-02-2011, 08:34 PM   #1
BarbaraSATX
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Question Battery-Two replacements in 17 months!!

I purchased my 2010 Yaris Hatchback in January 2010. In December 2010 the battery died and I had my car towed to dealership. They replaced battery but told me I needed to drive my car more. Same thing happened today, Aug 2, 2011. I recognize I probably don't drive as much as the average person; I'm 66 and retired and purchased the car last year thinking it would probably be my last. But, this battery business has me wondering. My car now has 8,670 miles on it and I usually drive it at least three times a week. No, I don't drive for long distances, usually about 4-8 miles at a time, and sometimes more. The dealership warned me this morning that the next time the warranty may not cover replacement unless I start driving more miles. I may be old but it just seems a little odd. Has anyone else had this problem, or can anyone confirm what the dealership is telling me. Thanks for reading.
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Old 08-02-2011, 10:01 PM   #2
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Wow. I have a similar problem with one of my other cars, but not with my Yaris. Driving for only a few miles isn't going to do much for recharging the battery, and that may be what your dealership people are referring to. It's possible by only driving under 10 miles at a time you aren't recharging the battery.

Can you say roughly how long the car sits? Or are you driving the car a few times per week all year long? 8,500 miles in 1-1/2 years should be enough unless you're letting it sit for a few months at a time.

Also, by looking at your name I'm assuming you're a woman? If so the dealership people may be taking you less seriously. It's terrible but common for car dealers to be less accommodating to women. I would hope they aren't treating you differently then a man, but they often try to get away with more, even when the problem is legitimate. When you say "The dealership warned me this morning that the next time the warranty may not cover replacement unless I start driving more miles." it makes me wonder why they don't have a set number, such as if you don't drive at least 10k miles per year your battery isn't covered.
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Last edited by staticorex; 08-02-2011 at 10:49 PM.
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Old 08-03-2011, 12:23 AM   #3
BarbaraSATX
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Battery Replacement

I always drive my car every week, sometimes every day and other weeks maybe only 2 or 3 times. Granted often not very far. Guess I need to take "my car for a ride" every week, eh? Given the price of gas thought I was being frugal and saving money. Thanks for your comment.
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Old 08-03-2011, 12:37 AM   #4
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That is normal for any car. You are not giving the altenator enough time to properly charge the battery. So you are always running on a partially discharged battery. To make things worse since you only drive it every few days you have a slight parasitic drain on the battery. Things like your clock the radio and ecm all take a slight draw to keep the memory alive. Which is not a problem for a daily driver or even ocassional driver. But compound that your drives are only short trip low rpm and have no high speed freeway driving the alternator cant properly charge the battery. You have really 3 options at this point. One is drive the car more or on the weekend take it on the freeway say drive someplace little ways out of town for dinner or to go to the mall to help recharge the battery. You can get a battery tender. Google it you will find lots of diferent kinds for sale. Which is basically a minature solar cel that has a wire that plugs into your cigarette lighter and uses the sun to do a slight trickle charge to offset the slight draw. Lots of car dealers use these cause their cars sit on the lot for weeks a time and are only driven short trip for test drives. Or you can get a deep cycle battery such as optima yellow top which can withstand being completely discharged and recharged without killing it such as a oem battery.
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Old 08-03-2011, 01:06 AM   #5
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I would say invest in a trickle charger that will keep your battery charged while the car is sitting still. It might be more expensive upfront but look at it this way; you won't be putting a ton more miles on your car, or be spending a lot more on gas since you can keep driving short distances.

However, I would recommend going on a good decent length trip at least once a month.
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Old 08-03-2011, 07:34 AM   #6
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I agree, trickle charger is the ticket. My shop is rigged so that I'm able to pull in, pop the hood, connect the charger and flip a switch. If your interested, specifics on charger etc can be found in my garage here. Also, with 6 bikes that don't get ridden alot maintenance with chargers is a must.
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Old 08-03-2011, 02:52 PM   #7
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I'm going to guess you park in a garage? As the comments above said, a trickle charger would be ideal for you. You should be able to find one for less than $40. Basically you put the "box" under the hood (zip ties), connect it to the (+) and (-) of the battery, and run the AC plug somewhere you can get to it. You might be able to have it stick out the front bumper. Then at night, you just plug the trickle charger in, and let it do it's thing. You can find ones that you can leave connected while the car is running.

Another option that was mentioned above is a solar cell trickle charger. That would be ideal if you park outside.

But yeah, your answer was above. Just figure that when you start your car, the start draws a LOT of current. 4 miles is barely enough to charge the battery back up. So each day your dropping the battery lower, and lower.
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Old 08-03-2011, 03:34 PM   #8
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If you park outside something like this would help you.
http://www.amazon.com/Wagan-2017-Sol...399863&sr=1-23

one thing about batteries, their maximum life is around 5 years from the date of manufacturing, depending on the quality.
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Old 08-03-2011, 04:03 PM   #9
BarbaraSATX
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Wink Thank You! Battery Charger.

Quote:
Originally Posted by YarisSedan View Post
That is normal for any car. You are not giving the altenator enough time to properly charge the battery. So you are always running on a partially discharged battery. To make things worse since you only drive it every few days you have a slight parasitic drain on the battery. Things like your clock the radio and ecm all take a slight draw to keep the memory alive. Which is not a problem for a daily driver or even ocassional driver. But compound that your drives are only short trip low rpm and have no high speed freeway driving the alternator cant properly charge the battery. You have really 3 options at this point. One is drive the car more or on the weekend take it on the freeway say drive someplace little ways out of town for dinner or to go to the mall to help recharge the battery. You can get a battery tender. Google it you will find lots of diferent kinds for sale. Which is basically a minature solar cel that has a wire that plugs into your cigarette lighter and uses the sun to do a slight trickle charge to offset the slight draw. Lots of car dealers use these cause their cars sit on the lot for weeks a time and are only driven short trip for test drives. Or you can get a deep cycle battery such as optima yellow top which can withstand being completely discharged and recharged without killing it such as a oem battery.

Thank you for taking the time to respond. Your idea of the trickle charge strikes me as being the best for me. I do park outside as I live in a condo w/o a garage and definitely don't have a place to plug in a charger. I'm really disappointed in my dealership for not recommending it to me rather than simply telling me to "drive it more". I love my Yaris and everything about it. Now feel even better about it. Thanks for the help!
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Old 08-07-2011, 11:47 PM   #10
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When you use trickle charger to recharge your battery remember to disconnect the battery negative terminal first to prevent electrical spike to your vehicle PCM (Computer).

Buy a car memory saver from Walmart or any auto store which is a device that plug into your cigarette lighter port before you disconnect the battery to save you some time on reprogramming the Time and radio setting each time after your car has been recharged.
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