ken.vs.ryu

I need new battery wires, I guess 14 years is the limit.
How much should a garage charge to get it changed?
I just don't have time to do it.

mt_goat

That will depend some on how big of cable you want them to use. Copper prices are sky high. Are you going to have them do the big 3?

ken.vs.ryu

I'm thinking toyota oem would be fine for me.

dcg9381

Ahh, so you like giving away money?
I've got no idea what it should cost, most dealers charge a minimum of 1 hour labor ($90) + parts. I don't want to guess what OEM toyota battery wires cost.

If you're going to have it done, take it to a general type automotive shop -firestone, something like that, hopefully without a staff of idiots. Call around, tell them you need two cables, one 12 inches in length, the other around 36 inches in length.

Replacing the battery cables is something that I do on *all* of my toyotas... Doing it myself takes under 20 minutes and simply costs the price of the cables. I go to a smaller gauge (thicker) cable - make sure I ground the the block and to the unibody.

MMA_Alex

you guys pay $90/hour for labor there? It's definately worth finding a set of cables that aren't toyota brand unless you like throwing away money. It should run like an hour of labor + the cost of the cables (depends on what you get)

Elton

go to a stereo shop and have them run all 4ga wire

dirtymuddog

be sure to clean the ground wire's bolt to the block...i used parts cleaner then wiped clean..its somethin simple that ive found can save a simple headache of a bad ground later..

ken.vs.ryu

Thanks for all the input. I'm going to swap the cables when I have time.
What I did for now was change to brass marine terminals. This was the major problem and now the truck runs great.

toyota_mdt_tech

Many times, the postive cable includes part of the wire harness and will be spendy. You can buy cable in bulk and crimp on your own ends. I use the Delco cable staking tool, P/N 1501, but Snap On makes one too, cosat about $60. The Delco one is much less and works great. But black and red cable any size you want in bulk. And buy the ends, crimp them, and use shrink tube to make it look neat. Borg Warner makes soem great water proof marine shrink tube, when heated, it shrinks and plus, it seals water tight with a glue. I suppose a good #2 or #4 should be plenty. Just crimp on eyes at each and and use hte OE type bolt on battery terminals. If you want a bolt on negative battery terminal from the dealer, your truck didnt have a bolt on negative, just buy one for a negative temrinal for a 96 Camry and you'll get what you need. As for the eyes, all ends will be a 5/16" holr or 8mm. JUst get the crimp on ends for the size cable you but. To buy the Delco cable staker online, try http://www.oehq.com and under the Delco part number search section, type in 1501.