I'm having trouble with the battery in my truck. The battery is less than six months old. It was replaced under warranty so I don't think there is any warranty left on this particular battery.

Anyway, it is in my tundra, which has mostly been sitting for the last few months. I try to drive it regularly, but truthfully, I have let it go for several weeks at a time without touching it.

The battery will take a charge just fine and starts up without issue, but even after driving it for a while, it will be completely dead the next time I go to start even if I do so immediately after turning it off.

Does this point an alternator issue? Is this something AutoZone could diagnose if I get it up there?

Yeah man, in my experience a certain percentage of batteries are bad from the factory. They bad or will work at reduced capacity. You might have one.

Also you might have a parasitic draw thats draining the battery while the vehicle is off. I'd run a test for that and also put the battery on a digital load tester and see what result.

The digital load testers are pretty accurate imo. Will tell you the % oc CCA on the battery and will also tell you if the battery is likely done and to replace or to charge and retest.

If your vehicle sitting for a long time you might think about putting a pigtail where you can plug in a battery maintainer.

Yeah, I actually made a post months ago about advice for maintaining a spare vehicle. I think I did get some advice to put some kind of trickle charger on it, but I also got advice just to drive it occasionally and I should be good. I definitely have neglected to drive it as regularly as I should so that's on me.

Thanks for the feedback. I thought about the parasitic draw, but the fact that I get it jumped and it starts and then I can drive it for 30 minutes and if I go to restart it immediately it is dead as the door nail would indicate that is unlikely, no?

If it starts when jumped it says to me that the battery doesn't' have enough amps to turn the engine over but has just enough amps to keep it running. Might be that you charging but the battery but it just can't take a charge for whatever reason. Might put a multi meter on the battery posts and check voltage at above idle. Maybe 1500 rpm or so. See what result on that. If you got like 13-14v then you charging and it's just that the battery is tits up.

Also any amount of corrosion on your terminals may cause this. Also keep in mind that corrosion can run up a battery cable and might not be visible.

A six month old battery surely has a warranty even if it was a warranty replacement for a previous battery. I would pursue that and not assume no warranty.

Sounds like a defective battery. They aren't designed to do a deep cycle like you have when letting it sit for an extended period. When you jump it, you get enough to start the vehicle, and then it runs in the alternator output. The battery isn't taking a charge, so when you shut it off, no re-start. I would get a solar trickle charger from harbor freight. It plugs into the cig lighter port, and will keep the battery hot.

Thanks I'll swing by tomorrow and see if they have one.

I have 2 vehicles thar get little use. Both stay on multi-stage trickle chargers. One has a built in pigtail, the other works through cigarette lighter.

Both start when I want. That said each gets run once a month to move fluids.

My guess is faulty battery. Nobody will care how the battery gets replaced. Its a timing issue with warranties.

Thanks. Can you explain what you mean in your last sentence about the battery and warranty? I don't follow.

Possibly check the vehicles frame grounds and battery terminals.

If it takes a charge (from an external charger), starts the vehicle, runs then, won't restart, it sounds to me like it isn't charging internally. Could also be the alternator.

Ok thanks yall. Unfortunately I'm out of town the next two weekends for work so may just have wit a while to address this.

austinag1997 said:

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I have 2 vehicles thar get little use. Both stay on multi-stage trickle chargers. One has a built in pigtail, the other works through cigarette lighter.

Both start when I want. That said each gets run once a month to move fluids.

My guess is faulty battery. Nobody will care how the battery gets replaced. Its a timing issue with warranties.

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Not true. Most batteries are warranted from the time of the original purchase. So if you buy a battery with a 36 month warranty and it fails at 33 months, you'll get a free replacement but the replacement is only warranted for the remaining 3 months of the battery warranty period. This is because you didn't purchase the replacement battery or the warranty that would normally go along with it. In the past, your typical Walmart or AutoZone monkeys didn't necessarily understand this and would often just replace the battery based on the manufacture date, but now that the warranties are being tracked electronically this doesn't happen nearly as often.

Load test it.

If it sits more than two weeks I'd have a battery tender on it.

Yeah, this is what the AutoZone guy told me when he gave me the replacement.