mikes19984x4

OKay, here's the deal: I just got home from college, and my 4runner started up just fine and made the 220 mile trip home with no porblems what-so-ever. The past two days, I made trips both mornings to the local mall, about 40 miles total, to do Christmas shopping, and it started up fine all those times. Then, yesterday, when I went to go to a basketball game last night, it wouldn't even turn over. So I got my jump-starter pack and hooked it up, and it fired up fine, and also fired up fine 3 hours later when I came home. Then, this morning, once again it would not even turn over. I hooked up the jump-starter pack, and it fired up. So I shut it off, and hooked up my battery charger for all morning on the 12-amp charge. I just tried to start it again, and it just clicked and would not turn over. Only thing I did to it yesterday was wash it, but did not do any under-hood cleaning. So it will start with the jump-starter, won't start after 5 hours of 12-amp charging which made it only click, and the battery is only 1 year old. So please guys and gals, help me out...

881stGenRunner

you say it just clicks? sounds like starter contacts may need to be cleaned and get all the gunk off them

MillerPKA

check the connections on the terminals, the smallest amount of corrosion in the metal will cease the conduction between battery and cable. knock them off to be sure and clean them out. it definitely sounds like the battery though, mine crapped out after a year because i had a slow power drain one day and there are some things that drain from your battery that just cannot be recharged. 10 bucks says a new battery will do it

mikes19984x4

thanks for the input guys...i'll go out there right now and check out all connections. it still makes me wonder what drained it down, as it never did this before. but i'll go do some checking and if anyone else has any other input, please help me out. thanks!

mikes19984x4

okay, i just went and checked all connections at the battery, alternator, and starter, and all all tight and corrosion free...and check this out: i still had the charger hooked up, and once again it said 100%, so i decided to try it again, and it started right up. ...but i'm still going to have the battery tested when i go to get some motor oil and filter probably later today...

Paul H.

That has happened to my wife's CRV twice so far in the last 3 years and each time it was the battery according to the dealer.

Whitey13

Agreed.

mikes19984x4

well, like i stated earlier, i got it to start and ended up letting it idle 10 minutes and i drove it around town for 10 mintues. then, when i got back home, i shut it off and tried to start it again and all it did was click some more. i then checked my water/acid levels in the battery and they are some-what low, so i'll top them off with distilled water and see if that will let me charge it up, but the day after christmas, this battery is goin back to napa and i'm getting a new one, since it has a 75-month warranty thing...it's just odd how it started doing this in the past day...

Whitey13

How about you do yourself a favor and drive down to NAPA and have them test the battery. I don't understand why you are wasting your time.

mikes19984x4

good point there, but i figured since i had some spare time on my hands, i'd check through everything, because i'd rather replace the battery than a starter or alternator...but yes, on the 26th, it will go back to NAPA and a new one will go in, regardless of if the old one will test okay, since my family is good friends with the people who own the NAPA... but thanks for the help guys, and i'll let ya'll know how it turns out...

BajaRunner

If its not the battery, it sounds like the starter is going.

I just went through this same situation the past month.

I had intermittent starting problems for a while. I would just sit there a few extra seconds, then it would start up if I had problems. Finally, the click started coming more and more of a consistent issue. A month of this gave way to 0% starting. A new starter will run you $150 - $175... BUT... all you need to do is replace the contacts!!! I bought contacts for $30 at the dealer, but, I needed them that day. Since you got some time, go ahead and buy them from 4crawler.com for like $5. You'll still need to remove the starter and open it up, but, its not THAT bad of a job.

Another thing worth noting is that our starters, made by Nippon Denso are rated to last 300,000 miles. The starter contacts wear out way before that, and once replaced will be fine for the rest of your trucks life. However, the re-manned starters are junk, and will go out again before your engine does.

Good luck, and test the battery first though.

AppleJack

X 2!!

DeathCougar

iTrader: (23)

Do yourself a favor and pick up an optima battery while you are at it. Little more spendy, but very much worth it. Cant spill, wont have battery acid issues, and it will last a LOT longer.

mikes19984x4

agreed, as i may look into that option and use the money from the old one to go towards it...but yesterday, i topped off the battery cells with distilled water, and it is helping it hold a charge, but it is still weaker than normal. bu thanks for the help guys, and i will look into those contacts for the starter as some preventative maintenance...