12v jumping info - pc is a lifesaver - few more Q's

I just wanted to say that when my wife called me, completely panicked because 'the car won't turn on', I was quickly able to diagnose the problem and walk her through the steps for jumpstarting, thanks to this site and judicious use of the Search function.

It was driven to her work on Monday morning, then left until Tuesday afternoon. The 12v was not completely dead, as the driver's door unlocked with the (non-SKS) fob, and it turned 'halfway' on about the 5th time she punched the start button. The display came on and all the warning lights were flashing simultaneously. She punched the power button again and it went dark and wouldn't turn back on (like the initial 4 attempts).

She sucessfully jumped it from an idling car, had to put some gas in first thing (2 gal) but left it on 'ready' while fueling. The gas guage is still blinking as if it were almost empty. Mileage was awful for the first 10 miles or so, <25mpg. She's on the phone driving home and watching the mileage climb.

I told her to leave it in 'ready' and lock it up when she gets home, only a 20-minute drive. I'll go find a battery float charger (Search function, here I come) so we can lock up for real and not need to jump again in the morning. We have street parking, but running a cord across the sidewalk shouldn't be a huge problem. Leaving on 'ready' without sitting on the porch, though, would be.

Anything else I'm missing? She'll be carrying around my portable jumper pack now, we only have one between our two cars, and mine's been less reliable. I'll have to monitor the voltage and check back in (there's at least a dozen threads on the correct at rest / on & charging voltages) as to the state of the battery.

More info: 2005 base model, 94,000 mi, we've owned for 1.5 months, no idea on age of 12v. Recently had service and recall work done (pedal, inverter drain & pump repl., brake fluid flush).

Anyway, I don't want this thread to turn into an 'everything you need to know about jumping / charging / what type of battery do I replace it with', but I'd be happy for pointers to the active threads where I can contribute my .02 as this saga unfolds.

 

Hmmm... well, I made a stop by the auto parts store and picked up a more sensitive DMM, to look at 1/10 volt. I also picked up a three-stage charger (10A, 6A, 2A) for $50, it has settings for "standard" or AGM.

The car had been on or sitting in 'ready' for ~3hrs by the time I got back. Testing showed:

"Ready" - 13.75V
off (2-5 minutes) - 12.64V
Charger, 2A 'trickle' setting - 12.97V

The battery did look OEM, said "Toyota" on the top, so I suspect it is original.

I'd probably do the elearnaid/Optima install I saw here, although I might hold off and monitor the battery (sans trickle charger) to see where its resting after normal driving and sitting overnight.

 

This morning, after sitting on the 2A trickle charge, with the charger still connected the battery was at 12.45V
I disconnected, and the voltage fell to 12.38

From what I've seen here I've got less than half a charge and it's time to replace it with the Optima D51R and elearnaid kit ($180, ouch!)

I've heard that the "R" for vented might not be made anymore? this true?

Also - Jimbo, that's crazy! I guess they figure it's such a small tank who wouldn't fill it all the way up? I know I sure would - it's not like .05 or even .15 difference in price is more than about a buck all told.

 

Maybe that should have been a warning? Although, ours is an aftermarket unit, so who knows what goes on there.

Thanks everyone for the corrections on the "R" moniker. I just thought that was part of the name. Now that's one (expensive) mistake I won't make!

elearnaid has the battery+kit listed at $205, on sale for $180. Hobbit's photo-tutorial looks like it will come in handy, but I'll probably shop around the dealers here first for the OEM.

 

Hi uart,
It isn't very long, I agree. She says she didn't leave any dome or task lights on, checked after she jumped it. She always locks it with the fob, not the door button, so the doors couldn't have been open, really. Headlights turn off when driver's door is opened, so that's not it either.

Clock was keeping time, mileage was pretty good - 52ish on our trip to the Poconos, 46ish around the mountians and trip back. We lost our radio presets earlier, but I'm not sure when, noticed on Sunday. The Kenwood head unit is a little wierd though without any prior epxerience or manual, so it's entirely possible I reset them trying to change the radio seek settings.

One possibility is that: driver's door did not close completely, she thought she locked it but it didn't really, and the dome light stayed on, and she only thought she unlocked it when she got back? I tend to believe her though, she's pretty careful about locking up, especially if she's leaving it at work overnight.

 

Thanks for the advice!
My car got a new battery a few months ago. Jump starter kit is in there more for the slow tire leak than the battery.

 

Update:

After all the advice here, decided to try to limp on this battery for a while. Trickle charged it overnight for two nights. Voltages seem to be back up, a little below what they're supposed to be but pretty consistent. No more starting problems, although my wife now has the battery jumper pack, rather than me. We just left it for 12 days on a trip and it started right up afterwards.

We'll continue to monitor it and be careful about the dome lights etc. Hopefully we'll get some significant life out of this battery yet.