2000 4Runner time to replace battery?

Any good quality battery is fine, nothing special about it. I get batteries from a chain store called "Batteries Plus", and they are decent and cheap.

Sam's Club or Costco is where I usually get my batteries from. Last year I replaced my 4Runner battery with one from Sam's Club for $50 plus tax. I think it was made by Energizer, but it was the 4x4 version. You might need to bring in the old battery for core replacement in your state.

Check your water levels you might get a few more months out of it.

Don't forget to record your radio station settings and if your radio has a security code associated with it, make sure you have that too before you disconnect the old battery.

Paul.

A garden variety mass retailer battery is fine. Since you don't drive much and if you plan on keeping the truck for many, many years you might consider an Optima battery. They are dry cells batteries, last a long time and will hold a charge even after long periods of inactivity. They are more expensive - typically $125-150 in the stores. J.C. Whitney sells the Redtop model of the Optima for $100, shipping included. The Redtop has a slightly lower CCA rating than the top of the line Optima but should be perfectly adequate for your truck. Worth considering. Good luck. Al

Optima batteries would be amoung the best, but expensive.

Size depends on what fits in the battery tray of your car. Battery case sizes are common across all brands, the only differences are in internal construction for how much power output and how long it will last - and yes, they are designed for a finite life. It costs them more to make a longer life battery with the same power output.

Oh, and most cars do have room for a larger battery in the tray if you want to squeeze it in, get out the tape measure and the BCA Battery Dimensions chart. In warmer climates the "stock" size is fine, but you need to do this if you are in snow country, you need every CCA Amp you can get when it's colder than a grave-digger's...

Shop on power output (Cold Cranking Amps and Reserve Time are defined specifications), warranty length (both total exchange and pro-rated), price, and the strength of the retailer and mfgr. It doesn't matter if you have a great warranty if the store or mfgr. is out of business and can't honor it.

Johnson Controls makes very good batteries - they sell using the "Energizer" name, and they make private-label batteries at the various quality levels for hundreds of chain stores, including Costco. Same thing with Interstate Battery.

The Optima wound-cell Absorbed Glass Mat Starved Electrolyte battery is great, as someone else mentioned it - but for a regular car it's WAY too expensive at $125 - $175. It's only needed in specialized applications like industrial equipment and racing & off-road vehicles where you have high vibration and impacts, and occasionally flipped over (firmly attached to the rolling car).

Or for uses where you have to mount the battery inside the passenger compartment and don't want the risk of the acid or hydrogen escaping, like under the back seat of a Volkswagen Beetle.

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The big difference in price among batteries of the same brand and rating seems to be the length of the warentee. I've used Pep Boys batteries for years and they usually last 5 or 6 years with no problems.

You might want to wire a 9v battery to a 12volt plug and stuck it into the cig lighter before you disconnect the battery. This saved all my radio and computer settings.

Skip

Interesting idea about wiring a 9v battery to the cig. lighter. will that work? any repercussions on doing so? can I damage anything in the car? or myself? And do I just connect it to the end of an adapter for the lighter?

You mentioned saving the "computer settings" Are there other setting aside from the radio itself that I need to be concerned with?