06 Sienna - Dead Battery -now what

My 'new' 06 Sienna CE had been sitting unused for about 5 days - prior to that it was driven about 4 miles - after sitting idle for 5 days (In sunny LA, CA). This morning the battery was totally dead - no lights anywhere. Putting a 12 volt tester on the battery barely produced a glow. Put a charger on and lights started working. The rear door will not open. Guess there is no over-ride?

The vehicle was purchased 5-2006. The battery date is 4-29-06.

I intend to charge it for about 4 hours at 6 amp and see what works.

Questions: Have or will the electronics be goofed up - so far? What if anything will happen when/ if I install a new battery.

Any warranty on any of this? The vehicle is less than two years old.

Is this perhaps a case of not driving it enough? In that case will a charge not cure the ills? Any electronic problems created so far?

Just getting out the owner's manual. Thanks m

Reply to
mike
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I bet you left one or more interior lights on. Charge the battery and make sure there are no interior lights on. There was a lot of that for the first Sienna's. Folks were unknowingly leaving interior lights on or leaving a door ajar and it drained the battery. There's always the possibility you have a defective battery. Check your warranty if you do.

Shouldn't have affected any electronics.

Good luck and may the force be with you.

Reply to
dbu

The doors are never left open and the interior light shut off automatically after a minute or so - as far as I know.

There's always the

Reply to
mike

See the battery manufacture, WBMA. Unless things changed since I'm out of the business, most new car batteries have a prorated warranty, of at least three yeara, by the manufacture

To my knowledge Ford is the only manufacture to warrants batteries and tires for the life of the basic warranty. Others only warrant them at 100% for

12/12 WOF.

Reply to
Mike hunt

Reading the warranty - there appears to be NO exclusion for the battery??? Would this be correct?

In the manual it says to disconnect the ground (-) connection before recharging with the battery in the car. WHY? Is this a big thing because I did no disconnecting - just clamped on and started charging.

Reply to
mike

Well, be sure to tell us what it says.

Reply to
Elmo P. Shagnasty

I believe that your battery is covered 36/36 for defects in materials or workmanship. The battery will gradually discharge over time due to various electronics in the vehicle, and if you put an ammeter on the vehicle right after shutting it off, it will show fairly high discharge for 5 minutes or so and then slow down. Short trips where the battery is not fully recharged will gradually deplete the battery, especially if it is parked for a fairly long period. If you do this, try to shut off the accessories that draw big power like the rear defogger, seat heaters, etc.

The manual probably suggests disconnecting the negative terminal to avoid sparks and possible damage to the electronic components in the vehicle from the high charge rate that some chargers put out.

I'm not sure if this is the case with your Sienna, but some vehicles need to be re-initialized after replacing the battery or deep draw-down on the battery so things like sunroof, power sliding doors, etc. will work.

Reply to
Ray O

Ray, I usually know what you're talking about, but I've never heard of "re-initializing" a battery. How is it done? Thanks.

Reply to
mack

You put a load on the battery and draw it's charge down. Then charge it up again. Sort of like old geezers and charging them up again, then drawing them down and charging them up. You should know about that stuff Mac, or maybe you forgot already.

Reply to
dbu

That's what I was going to suggest. After you remove the - terminal on my tC, you have to reset the power windows and the sunroof...

The procedure will be in the Owner's Manual...

Reply to
Hachiroku

He said "some vehicles need to be re-initialized after replacing the battery"

The power windows and sunroof on my tC have to be 'reinitialized' after replacing or disconnecting the battery. The sunroof has two 'stop points', one halfway and one with just the rear of the roof open. It loses it's mind when you disconnect the power, and have to reset the points when you reconnect the battery. This is what he means.

I'm betting that he's betting the doors have to be reset, too...which they probably do...

Reply to
Hachiroku

Actually, it is not the battery that needs to be re-initialized. The electronic control modules that control some functions need to be re-initialized. I think the process involves a "chicken dance" of turning keys and pushing buttons and is outlined in technical service bulletins for the models that need them. I'm too cheap to pay to access techinfo.toyota.com to get the procedures for everyone else, and so far, I haven't needed to access any info for my personal vehicles.

Reply to
Ray O

That is more like load testing a battery. Re-initializing refers to the ECU's that control some functions.

Reply to
Ray O

Yup, we're betting on the same thing!

Reply to
Ray O

I has been charging for six hours now. Started at 1 amp - went up to

3.5 amp and now back to about 3 amp even. It does bother me that there is no green light on the battery. It remains black - indicating a lack of charge.

As for chicken dance - simple two step process to normalize power window described in the manual. There is a switch for rear door that is per the manual! In real life it does NOT exist. Does it fix itself . This is one reason I went here before I opened the manual.

I have one of those portable 'jump start' batteries (purchased for a small TV) - like a small brief case. Will this harm or even work for this car if the battery is DEAD as it appears to be?

Will a Sienna run on an alternator - with a dead battery?

Is there a chance the dealer will exchange the battery if I remove it myself and bring it to them without the car?

m
Reply to
mike

It's nearly total insurance against damaging the electronics, rather cheap insurance, although I don't see why the electronics aren't protected enough to withstand anything short of household AC or lightning.

Even if your battery is covered by the Toyota warranty, dealer prices are often so high that it may be cheaper to buy a new battery at full price elsewhere, like Costco or Walmart.

Reply to
rantonrave

WTF is labor not included in the warranty? m

Reply to
mike

If you have an automatic charger, the charge rate should drop as the battery approaches a full charge.

If the charge rate remains high, disconnect the charger and have the battery load dtested.

I do not think that the initialization process is the same for every Toyota, and I haven't done the research to find out the sequence for every model, so I just call it a chicken dance ;-)

I don't think that one of those portable jump start batteries will harm the car, but I don't think that it will fit under the hood without rattling around. The problem is the other way around. I think the car's charging system may damage the booster battery or the cables on some of those batteries.

Probably not.

Possibly. Call them and ask.

Reply to
Ray O

FORD=Fix Or Repair Daily

Reply to
sharx35

It can also mean that the electrolyte level is low, and the little charge indicator balls can't float to show red yellow or green. Stop charging now till you fix this.

If you know the Safety Drill (Gloves, Goggles, lots of Baking Soda and water on hand) you can pry off the "Sealed Maintenance Free" cell caps with a screwdriver and add Distilled Water up to the split rings. Then try charging the battery again, and see if things improve.

They work. It isn't a good idea to leave it connected if the car battery has a shorted cell, since the jump pack is easily drained.

Most cars will, but it really isn't good on the car if the battery is totally toasted - the alternator voltage can go way high at full throttle without the regulating effect of the battery.

And the car may stall at idle if you try running any power accessories, lights, or even honk the horn - the alternator barely puts out at curb idle. Without help from the battery, you can lose enough voltage to stall out.

The booster battery would be enough to moderate the system voltage - now if you can figure out a way to safely strap down the booster battery and leave it connected for the drive to the dealer...

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Reply to
Bruce L. Bergman

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