06 Sienna - Dead Battery -now what

I agree, turning the power back on should not be rocket science. The computers do have a factory default setting for controlling this stuff, but for some reason, they need to be initialized.

Just disconnected the charger after 20 hours. It was charging - (perhaps off) at a near zero rate. Previously it had charged at a rate up to 3.5 amps. The charger is rated at 6 amps and should shut itself off and on.

The fluid levels are fine. There was a slight green glow in the indicator window on the battery. The vehicle started and the el. windows work. The rear door does not

- and the manual makes reference to a button near the steering column

- that is simply missing. The side door works and there is no moon roof.

Questions: Soooo do I even dare drive this damn thing? The fear of getting stuck is high. Would this model be susceptible to stall in traffic?

Is the battery dead or near death? It really bothers me that the green indicator took upwards of 20 hours to even display - should it? I don't need the car before Tuesday so there is time.

My next move should probably be to just let it sit and see if it has a charge (will start) this afternoon.

Given all the above can the dealer do anything?

Thanks for all the thoughtful replies so far.

m

If the rate of charge is at or near zero, then the battery is probably fully charged.

The indicator window in the battery is not electric so the colors indicated in the window will not be bright. If it is green, then it is probably fully charged.

I think everything is fully charged and ready to go. I have not heard of any complaints of Siennas stalling in traffic, and with the battery installed, it should be OK.

The only way to tell is to load test the battery.

It is possible that the battery has a bad cell; it is possible that the connection between the charger and battery was marginal; the charger may not be working properly; or there is a draw in the vehicle somewhere that slowed down the rate of charge.

Are there any aftermarket accessories installed in the vehicle like Ipod adapters, remote starters, etc.?

If the car is holding a charge, then everything is probably OK. Yes, the dealer can measure parasitic current draw and load test the battery.

Nothing has been changed, plugged in or added.

What - if any - be the likely charge for this be?

(In no time one would buy a new battery just to see if that was the problem) I will never forget how (some idiot GM mechanic) charged me $30 to 'fully charge' the battery 'because the charge was low'. List price for a new one was $38 at the time. There was a reason for the less than fully charged battery that was unrelated to why that car was in the shop for specific work. I paid the 'tuition'!

m

Nothing has been changed, plugged in or added.

What - if any - be the likely charge for this be?

(In no time one would buy a new battery just to see if that was the problem) I will never forget how (some idiot GM mechanic) charged me $30 to 'fully charge' the battery 'because the charge was low'. List price for a new one was $38 at the time. There was a reason for the less than fully charged battery that was unrelated to why that car was in the shop for specific work. I paid the 'tuition'!

m

PS. Does it take special tools/skills to check for parasitic current drain? I do have a clamp-on voltmeter that will measure current. Not sure about sensitivity. I know the load test takes a special gadget.

Found On Road Dead -OR- Fu@#ing Over-Rated Dud

That is good... Problems caused by aftermarket accessories are not covered by the new vehicle warranty.

The dealer will probably charge a diagnostic fee of 1 hour times their labor rate. If a problem is found that is covered by warranty like a bad battery, then the charge would be waived.

You will need an ammeter with the capacity to read at least 1 amp to measure parasitic current drain. Make sure all lights and accessories are off, hook up the ammeter in series between the positive battery clamp and positive battery post and see how many milliamps are being drawn. You should see current draw drop after it has been sitting for around 5 minutes.

You can use your bolt meter to measure battery voltage. When fully charged, a good battery will read something like 13.7 volts. If it does not read that, then the battery may have a bad cell that decreases its ability to hold a charge. If you have a specific gravity tester that looks like a giant eyedropper with small plastic balls floating inside, you can measure the specific gravity of each cell to determine if any cells are bad.

You need a battery load tester to perform a battery load test. The load tester has a carbon pile that is basically a big resistor to put a load on the battery.

I gotcha. thanks, Ray.

Hmmm, the wrong answer from you...as usual.

sounds as if you're the oldtimer in the crowd, so just bugger off.

You're welcome, any time!

Two different digital volt meters same brand (el cheepo HF brand) read

12.92 v and 12.90 v A scale reading volt meter reads about 14 volts.

My amp meter works great on AC circuits but has no DCA setting in spite of the instructions (again).

Busted my old specific gravity tester - to get a new one - they used to be cheap.

Not sure if anything can be concluded from the above?

I would love to have a 'charge - discharge' gage on my instrument panel. My GM did not even have a temp gage - only a flag that would pop out of the hood if the engine was blown.

What are the chance that the alternator is not charging?

Would there ever be an indication - such as slow starting - that the battery is low?

The green eye on the battery - is that just a constant color float rather that some sort of electrical light?

If it does not read

For home automotive use, the cheapo brand is good enough. I paid around $20 for a cheapo Radio Shack digital meter around 30 years ago and the stupid thing keeps plugging along. I would like a fancy Fluke meter, but it is a little hard to justify since the Radio Shack meter has met my needs all this time.

The analog meter can get out of calibration more easily than a digital one because it has moving parts. My guess is that the digital ones are correct.

12.9 volts is a tad low for a fully charged battery. The battery is probably good enough to work if the car is started every day, but if it sits for a few days, the voltage drops low enough to cause problems.

I think it is worth taking to the dealer for a check.

That wasn't a flag - that was a pushrod poking up through the hood ;-)

The chance that the alternator is not charging is low, becuase you would have a charge warning light if the alternator is not charging. Just for grins, start the engine and measure voltage across the battery terminals. At around 1,500 ~ 2,000 RPM, you should get over 14 volts. If you are not, then the alternator is bad. If you are getting over 14 volts, the alternator is charging.

You will get slow cranking if the battery is low.

The green eye in the battery is just a specific gravity meter, and the top ball that floats is green. It is not an electrical device so it will not be bright or illuminated.

My analog was probably under $10 ten years ago. The digital ones under $4 at Harbor Freight (the home of crappy tools).

I stand corrected :->

Just measured 14.42v at about 1600rpm.

Really - not just that clicking sound?????? That you are sjUUUed.

Great

PS the rear door was apparently reset by cycling the remote key - as hinted at in the manual.

The alternator is probably good.

The clicking sound is when the battery is even lower than the slow cranking and doesn't have enough power to turn the engine over or engage the starter.

This leaves only the load test, the sp gravity test and the parasitic current loss. You said the following:

"You will need an ammeter with the capacity to read at least 1 amp to measure parasitic current drain. Make sure all lights and accessories are off, hook up the ammeter in series between the positive battery clamp and positive battery post and see how many milliamps are being drawn. You should see current draw drop after it has been sitting for around 5 minutes."

I did not understand why the drop after 5 min???? The car is just sitting there doing nothing. Is this more than obtaining a stable reading?

Re the green eye on the battery - at approximately what % of capacity does it change? Or is there no useful significance to that?7

There is a technical service bulletin regarding battery maintenance and testing, and I recall reading a synopsis somewhere that mentioned the wait (I think about 5 minutes) for the amperage to drop off. I don't recall the reason, but the most likely reason is a retained power or memory feature or security system arming.

I don't know the answer to this question. The indicator is only a general indicator of the state of charge - a volt meter provides more precise information.

Lots of battery chargers are just a big honking transformer with some diodes and an ammeter attached so they put out pulsating DC instead of pure DC. The peaks of the pulses are usually above the usual safe limit of 16 volts and since a lead-acid battery that has been overdischarged below 10 volts has mostly pure water as electrolyte (the sulfur goes into the plates during discharge) it is almost an open circuit and doesn't filter the pulses out into pure DC which means you now potentially have pulsating DC with peaks over 16V going to all of the ECUs that draw memory power.

The other reason is that the ECUs like to start up with a sudden solid stable voltage instead of the slowly rising voltage you would get while charging the battery with it connected.

Hysterias? ;)