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battery replacement
The Phoenix heat isn’t kind to car batteries. We tend to “rent” them. In almost 20 years living in the Valley of the Sun, I’ve yet to get more than three years out of any new battery. You install a new one, get the free replacement, then buy another, get the free replacement, and so on.
When it’s above 90°F/32°C, I’ll be lucky to see my voltmeter climb reach 12VDC, but at elevation where it’s cooler (or during our “Not-Hot” season—not to be confused with “Fall” elsewhere, by the way), the voltmeter hangs out closer to 14VDC, where it should.
Either way, earlier this year I decided I was on my last leaky, lead acid shit-show battery. Corrosion everywhere. Greasy, melty terminal connections. Checking and adding distilled water every couple of months—not worth the piddling savings over AGM.
So when ol’ Fez barely started yesterday morning when I went to take P to school (it was a lovely 65°F/18°C at the time), and then again when I went to leave school and get gas—but was showing closer to 14VDC on the meter—I knew the time had come.
Time was of the essence, so I posted up in the Montero group on Friendface, asking what size tires fit, er, what’s the hot setup on AGM batteries these days. The response was quick: Bosch Platinum AGM, P/N 24-710BAGM.
Thank you @haolepinoy, Eric, and JBFP!
I don’t usually shop Pep Boys, but this was where to go, so I started calling around. Turns out they’re being phased out in favor of Champions (probably the cheaper of the two now-made-in-Mexico parts). I had to drive about 30 miles across town to get one while V was getting chemo.
The new hotness chillin’ on the Juke floorboard.
I ordered the Toyota terminals Eric recommends, but had to get the battery in before they arrived so I could, you know, go places. Here’s a couple pictures of the leaky old bastard being replaced.
Believe it or not, I cleaned everything thoroughly with baking soda mix just a couple weeks ago. Also, the brown coloring of the engine in the background is mud left over from Overland Expo West back in May. #dontcare
Anyway, I dropped all the battery tie-down hardware into my disposable plastic container full of baking soda water before I removed the old battery and scraped, scooped, and rinsed everything in a very fizzy baking soda bath.
I dried things out in preparation for the new battery.
The clean, if not painted battery tray.
The new battery.
Here’s where things get stupid, I mean fun.
I tend to be a clean-as-you-go kinda guy, so once I had everything clean, I threw all the dirty stuff in the trash—including my disposable container which just had a large blob of nasty, foamy bubbles in it.
Turns out the two wing nuts that actually hold the battery down were in that blob.
Fortunately, Wednesday was trash day, so I was able to quickly fish the nuts out of the bottom of my poly cart with my magnetic grabber tool. Nice!
They were coated in foam, dirt, and whatnot from the trash, so I walked around back, grabbed the hose—and immediately blasted one into the great unknown somewhere in a planter filled with Brittania.
Yeah…
I must have tried half a dozen different nuts from the stash. None were the right pitch. So I put the old core in the back of the truck and carefully drove to (a much closer) Pep Boys to dispose of the old battery properly, collect my core deposit, and buy a new battery tie-down kit.
They were sold out of the tie-down kit.
The retainer bolts they had were too long (and weren’t threaded far enough I could trim to fit).
They had wing nuts, but none that worked.
Apparently, the tie-down bolts I had were somewhere between M6x1.0 and M7x1.0, but also somewhere between 1/4-20 and 1/4-28. Ugh.
So I carefully drove to Auto Zone, where I bought a pair of new tie-down bolts with nuts and washers, finally securing my new, $160 AGM battery.
Once the new Toyota terminals arrive, I’ll be replacing the lingering nastiness.
Onward.