Another Autozone battery dies in my '90 Camry, what could be the problem?

snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote: Could I have received

Autozone batteries have a high failure rate, you could have gotten another bad one. I got a new boss when I was lead mechanic on a fleet and his goal was to cut cost. He made me start using parts from Autozone, including batteries. We were constantly changing batteries, almost always under warranty. They were good about honoring the warranty but it made so much down-time the boss had me switch back to Interstate batteries. Very seldom have a problem with them, there are other good batteries as well. The ones at Wal-Mart are made by a major battery manufacturer (Eveready I think) and are reasonably priced. davidj92

Who knows? Johnson Controls makes Duralast, they also make DieHard, Interstate, WalMart, Optima, etc. The BCI 26 is actually smaller than the OEM of BCI 35, but it still should do the job. If something is marginal on the car, the 35 may have just the extra oomph to overcome, but still....

I will say I gave up on the AutoZone, Pep Boys, K-Mart batteries of the world, just because I DID have trouble with them. Never have had trouble with NAPA or Interstates...Knock on Wood....

Batteries have freshness dating - might check that. If it's been sitting on the shelf more than a couple of months, plates begin to sulfate reducing battery life. Usually the date is coded, like A for January, B for Feb. etc., Could also be you have a current drain. Cheapest way is to put a ligt bulb between the negative battery post and the ground cable, with that cable disconnected. If the bulb glows you need to start pulling fuses until you find the offending circuit, then track it down further. Of course an ammeter would be more accurate, and digital meters are available inexpensively.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but at no point did you or autozone check for a current drain with the car off. The charging, storage, and starting components can all be perfectly fine but if something is draining the battery when the car is not running you should expect the battery to die. You need to put an ammeter in line while the car is off and check the current drain. I'm guessing about 1/2 to 1 amp over five days will easily drain down the battery. If its higher than that you may even see a good size spark when you tap the cable on the battery terminal. You could just disconnet the battery next time when you are going to let the car sit for a few days and see what happens. Overly advanced timing will cause slow cranking but this effects mostly the big V8s.

Do you have a battery charger at home? Try removing and charging the battery with the home (wall-outlet) battery charger.

Reason I mention it, the battery died in my parents' car. I suggested to dad that he change the battery, it was about 3 years old, but instead he just charged it, and now it's working fine. I guess maybe mom made too many short trips, and the short trips weren't enough to let the battery recover its energy from turning the starter motor. He does, however, now carry and maintain a jump-start battery in the trunk. :)

Do you make lots of short trips, or do you drive it on long trips?

Then again, if you can get a complete refund on this battery, go for it. :)

how would they check for the current drain? I'm pretty sure at the time he checked the alternator the car was off and he used the same machine he used to check the battery.

I bought this car less than a year ago and it had 135k miles on it. It wasn't well taken care of so what are the odds that the timing belt was never changed or even corrected? Probably pretty good. I'd hate to spend the money to fix the timing belt when it's having all these other problems (I also have the distributor cap problem that is so prevalent in camrys). Is there anything else that could cause slow cranking besides the timing?

No battery charger, maybe that's a good idea to have one. I doubt the car would die if I just drove somewhere and left it for a couple of hours. What are the odds that if I took it into the shop that they'd find the problem? I'm not too mechanically inclined so doing what others have mentioned above seems a little foreign to me.

If you take it into the shop, you could spend lots of $$$ unless you do some of the work for them. It's your choice.

1. Try what others have suggested, see if there is a current drain. If using a multimeter to measure current is too difficult, then for a few bucks, buy a 12-volt-DC light bulb, the correct size light bulb socket, and two wires. Disconnect the red (+) terminal from your battery. Connect the end of one wire to the light bulb socket, and the other end to the (+) battery terminal. For the second wire, connect one end of the wire to the light bulb socket, and the other end to the big wire that you just disconnected from the battery. If the light lights up, you know you have a current drain somewhere.
2. Get a battery charger. Here's one:
   formatting link
3. Exchange your battery for another battery that's more reliable. Others on this group have made good recommendations for reliable battery brands.

There is a chance that you have just gotten rotten batteries. So, how much have you been spending for these....if they are the super-cheap models $29-$39...there is not much room for any sort of "problem."

But, having said that, I really think you probably have a current drain somewhere,.

But if you want to try the less hassle, more money approach first without doing any of the testing, you could buy a decent battery and see if that gets you down the road. A local independent garage would stock Interstate, but you'd be paying $80 or so for the MegaTron.

You could probably get out of NAPA with a NASCAR Select, or some such foolish name for around $65.....I just learned long ago that while a cheap battery may be O.K., I'd rather pay a bit more. Never had a problem since adopting that principle...and believe me, I've been through the wringer with the "cheap battery woes" in my younger days.

You know, I once had car whose battery was, I thought, just low because of winter short trip driving. I took the car for a 15 mile drive to charge the battery and parked it outside my local Canadian Tire store while I bought a few things -- took about 15 minutes. When I tried to start the car the battery was as dead as a doornail. Luckily their shop was free and they checked out the charging ciruit and he battery (it had had it!) and, after buying a new battery was all set for another five years......

Fotofreak

He would use a ammeter connected in between a disconnected battery cable and the battery. Either cable would do. I suppose he could have used a inductive type ammeter but I not sure about the dc accuracy. An inductive meter simply clamps over either of the battery cables.

Your timing belt is not likely to cause a slow crank if the engine runs well once started.The same thing goes with the ignition timing. The good news is you bought a Toyota and not a Honda so you are not playing with fire by failing to replace the timing belt before it breaks. You battery is going dead, right? If so, that is the reason the car cranks slowly. Do go off on a tangent with this.

I originally bought a $29.99 battery at Autozone, then the battery died so I decided to upgrade to their Duralast brand which cost $49.99. Neither battery was the size of the original battery I replaced and that bothered me but the rep assured me that the cold cranking amps were higher so that was all that mattered. I read somewhere that the company that makes Duralast is the same that makes Interstate, is that true? It's weird because I just bought the same brand battery for my Civic and haven't had any issues. Anyway, I'm going to Autozone tomorrow to get a new battery, again. I just want to be sure that it's a problem with the battery and not my car.

It has been a long time since dead batteries were a major problem. I only took a cursory look at this thread; maybe I am repeating. You have bought new batteries, the alternator checked out fine. How about the belt and pulley. At low speeds with the check equipment hooked up it does fine. Rolling on the street maybe the belt is slipping on the pulley and the alternator is not providing enough amperage. Battery charge is falling and when you need to start a cold engine again there is just not enough left in the battery. The primary check is to use a screwdriver or other pry bar- gently and very carefully so as not to hurt or bend anything- to turn the alternator some. Start with just your hand to try to turn the alternator. If it turns easily the belt is loose or worn or the pulley might be -unlikely- at fault. If it is properly tight it will take extreme effort and maybe almost turn the whole engine.

I doubt the Duralast is made by Interstate, if it is then it is made to a lesser quality standard than Interstate. If they hooked their testing machine to your battery when they checked it then it should have tested for a current drain by the inductive clamp over the battery cable. When you go back ask them to check for a current drain and if the rep knows how to use the tester they should be able to tell you. Shouldn't be more than 50ma or appx. davidj92

Interstate does not make batteries. Interstate batteries are made by Johnson. JC makes a large majority of the batteries in the U.S.

Ok, I think I narrowed down the problem - I have a short, which means I have a frayed wire somewhere in my electrical system. I friend told me to take off the negative cable for about 5 minutes then gently tap it on the terminal. If there is a spark that means that there is a short in the system. There was a spark. Anyone ever deal with this? I guess I should start a new thread, because I'm wondering if anyone else has had this problem and could direct me the most likely places to check.