My wife drove my 4Runner to work yesterday while I was at a friend's house that's out of town so I could work on his car.

This morning I went to start the 4Runner to go to work, and it wouldn't start. It would crank over but slower than normal and enough that it wouldn't start. I started turning the heater fan off, radio off, etc. when I noticed that the headlights were left on. I didn't see any lights on it when I got home last night in the dark, so I can only assume that the battery was dead enough to not show any lights being left on.

The good news is that I have a practically brand new red top Optima battery that I took out of my Chevy to put in my 4Runner, but would like a few questions answered first.

When changing out the battery will I have to reprogram the keyless entry or the factory Toyota stereo so it will function after swapping the battery? I know I'll have to reset my clock and radio stations on the stereo, but will the factory stereo still work if I change out the battery? It's been way too long since I've changed out a battery on this new of a Toyota. Please let me know ASAP and thanks for the help!

Doug

 

Funny how the lights were left on since the runner should have auto light shut off once you open the door (if the engine is off and key out of ign) When i swapped my battery to an optima as well..there was no adverse affect to the toggles. also your factory radio will be fine minus all the presets like bass,mid,treb and radio stations,,it will spit out any cd you have in at the time..also if you have digital climate then it will go to default settings that goes to 25 celsis and a/c on...

 

Thanks for the info Godzilla!

My 99 4Runner is the newest Toyota that I've ever had. The lights were off when I got home, but the headlight switch was still set as if the headlights were in the ON position.

I just didn't want to have anything unforseen come up if I removed the factory Toyota battery in my 4Runner and installed the Optima.

Thanks again for the info!

Doug

 

Are your Optima + and - connections on the correct sides fot your Toyota? 4Runner takes an Optima 34R - R everse. Do a forum search here for modifying the battery bracket/hold down as well. Optimas are shorter in height.

 

IIRC the 99+ models did have the auto headlight shut off.

The symptoms you have though are similar to what i experienced the first winter I had the Tess.

The first freeze we had I went the next morning to go start her, and she started to turn but really really slow.
I did the same thing, shut off everything, even had my seat belt buckled and e-brake off so there were less lights on, on the dash (yes pathetic I know)

And then I tried again, she kept cranking slowly, gave it a little gas and she started to pick-up a little, so I shut if off and tired one more time and gave it a little more gas and viola she turned and I was off.

I went later to local jiffy lube kinda place and found out that my anti-freeze was almost brown... got that changed and never had the problem since...
(previosu owner never had the anti-freeze changed int eh 75K she owned it...

 

My Red Top Optima battery is not the 34R.

But I do have some brand new #0 gauge battery cables that I bought a while back that I could use to replace my existing battery cables. That way they'd be plenty long enough to install my non-34R red top battery.

I charged my original Toyota battery back up with the battery charger yesterday, and it seems to be working fine. I did check the alternator with all my lights and accessories on and it was putting out 14.5 volts, so it should be okay. I did leave the headlight switch in the on position and then shut off my 4Runner yesterday and the headlights did go off automatically, so I don't know why the battery went low??? I know that there wasn't any dome lights left on in the 4Runner either, so this one has me a little bit puzzled.

 

If that was original original battery, it was probably just its time to die. My 99 battery died in September 2006, and I consider that a full life at 7+ years. That one was never discharged deeply.

 

When you hook the new battery up, don't let the alarm scare you, it will probably trigger it.