Battery or Alternator??
 

I had my interior lights on overnight the other day. Well the next day, my 4r wouldn't start...almost. First turn, it did the clicking and what-not. After some swearing, I tried it again, but a little longer and it just barely turned over. woohoo!!

So I figured, after it was running for a 1/2 or so (trip to work), it'd be fine. Not so, slow start after work. And then the next morning, again almost didn't start - been that way all week.

So is my battery dying or is the alternator not replenishing it?

Help?

thanks,

Kurt

if you have a sears near you, they'll check both for free

i had a similar situation. the altenator probably is charging the battery but it will take a while. what i did was charge the battery overnight with a battery charger. after that no probs.

sounds like its a dead battery. standard car batteries arent meant to be drained all the way, deep cycle batteries are. car batteries are a shallow cycle battery, meaning its meant to be cranked and recharged over and over again. draining a batter entirely once or twice can be enough to destroy a battery

+1 for the battery. If it was the alternator three of the warning lights would come on... I think they're the: Brake! light, Check Engine light and Battery light.

Update - I think it's the battery (oem). I had it jumped once and charged once by Pep Boys and it won't keep the charge even after 30+ minute driving stints.

And it's still doing the clicking and just barely turning over.

So I figure a new battery, right? If so, any suggestions on a good replacement for 99 highlander?

If there are other things I should do to double-check the problem, please lemme know.

thanks!
kurt

On a '99 Highlander? Seriously doubt it'd be the alternator. Just have the battery replaced with a decent warranty one ... I just brought my battery back to Kragen w/o a receipt after 5 years and they still gave me a couple year pro-rated discount on a new one since the battery had their name on it (and yeah, it was bad ...) :)

Yep - it was the battery - the stealer wanted $130 installed. I went to Pep Boys - $70 and I put it in in the parking lot - all good.