ok so thursday i decided to go eat some lunch. car is doing just as normal. go home, watch tv, go to bed. wake up, 4runner barellllllllly starts. ok, i just got new red top battery 1 month ago, new starter about 4 months ago...??? wait till afternoon, barely starts again, drive it around for 10 minutes, come home. wait a little, crank it up, does fine. then, around 8 that night, it barelllly starts again. if i havent confused you, please help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (2000 4runner, great condition) what are the possible trouble spots?

 

Check the battery ground. It should be grounded to the engine block NOT the frame. That's what happened to my old Blazer when I rebuilt my engine.

 

Sounds like a defective battery or something causing a drain.
WOW! That really doesn't help does it?

 

Is your alternator charging properly?
You should have 14+ volts at the battery posts with the engine running.

 

i was having similar probs on my 01 taco dcab after installing my red top... i swapped out the OEM ground that goes from the negative terminal to the frame with a thicker gauge ground cable from pepboys and the problem went away... $4.99 fix...

 

Could be something as simple as your battery connections. I had a similar issue. Sounded like a dying starter. Changed the post connectors from the Japanese style 'hoops' to the N.A. style clamps...never had an issue since. Keep in mind, I have a N.A. aftermarket battery, too. I 'think' the hoop-type were stretched, and not making good contact with the terminal posts. Kinda like the connectors to the terminals were too big...no matter how hard I'd tighten them, they'd STILL wiggle around. I actually broke 2 brass type and 1 lead type, until I hit on the idea of a large washer in front of the terminal connector nut. Don't know if all of that makes sense to you, but it DID (and continues to) work well. And just disregard my post a while back about hooking up my battery in reverse polarity...

 

definately sounds like a slow drain if it doesnt crank after sitting but does after driving for awhile. your alternator is charging it up while u drive but not while sitting. or u just got a bad battery.

 

if its a bad battery, im going to flip. car audio masters here in charlotte just put the battery in a month ago...because the previous red top WAS DEFECTIVE aaaaaand they didnt put big enough ground wires on it...you guys make plenty of sense, and he told me he had the wires fixed and the battery was perfect....AHHHHHHHH...must be another bad red top

 

ahh i was gonna ask if you just had any audio installed, if it has been doing this since then they may have wired something wrong and it pulling current from your battery at night. Just a thought you may want to look into this.

 

Dig out the volt meter and take some voltage drop readings. See if you can get some readings when it starts OK and when it acts up. Things to check, battery voltage, voltage at the starter power and solenoid control connections, etc.:

http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTricks/Starter.shtml

You want to measure the voltage under load and look for voltage drops exceeding about 1/2 volt.

 

actually ive had my audio for over a year. so i dont think that has any effect. ive got around a 2400 watt system, 2 sets of PIAA lights, 2 sets of "blazer" (walmart) lights, a remote starter. plenty of things, and i was told the red top was the perfect answer for this. i guess its another bad battery...im taking it back there tommorrow, the one positive though is that the red tops come with a 6 year gurantee...but maybe they should change that to a 2 month gurantee, haha...thanks for the help

 

ok i checked battery. when vehicle was off 12.37 volts...when running, 14.20ish. what should be my next stop? starter problem? or something else? thanks for the help

 

As noted in my post above, check the voltage at the starter solenoid control wire (i.e. the little wire, not the BIG WIRE) when you try to start and see if there is a difference between when it works and when it doesn't. If the voltage at the starter solenoid is not within 0.5 volts of the battery voltage, then there is usually a problem up-stream of the starter (i.e. wiring, connectors, relays and ignition switch), otherwise it is the starter solenoid:

http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTricks/Starter.shtml

 

alright took it to the place that installed the starter. they checked all parts and said it was perfect. their diagnosis was something was draining the battery (implied that soem of my mods were doing this). so i disconnected all of them from the optima yesterday afternoon...problem not solved. drove car around 30 minutes last night (enough to recharge optima to 100%). let it sit for about 12 hours, crank it up this morning, still barely cranks...any more ideas?

 

Do the voltage checks I mentioned above. It'll help you pin point the source of the problem. And don't assume that since the shop "checked it out", that the starter is OK.

 

well, problem solved. i disconnected my walmart back up lights and the lights on the roof rack. apparently they were always turned on and draining the battery for all its worth, even though they werent switched on. i guess i wired them wrong, but i followed directions. for each set of lights i: wire from lights to toggle switch, ground wire from toggle switch to metal, and power wire to battery terminal. o well, they werent that great, but id like to figure out how to hook them up so this doesnt happen again. i think im going to make an aux fuse box, maybe thats the problem? however there was a fuse in the power wire line. o well. thanks for the help. i knew it was something simple, my car is in great condition! keeping it clean is always good.

 

Here is a good way to wire auxiliary lights with a relay:

http://www.classictruckshop.com/club...h/foglites.htm