Battery dies after 1 year

[wolfpac2056]

I have a 2002 Toyota Rav4 that is on,y lightly used during the summer. It’s taken out 3x/week for 30 minutes a trip. Today I went to start it and the battery was completely dead. I jumped it and checked the charge. It was 7.5v. Alternator test passed. Let it run for 30 mi utes, turned it off, then it wouldn’t start. This is the third year in a row that the battery has died during the summer. Got it from AAA, who’s already replaced it once. They’re telling me they won’t replace it again.

compare to 5 year old battery in a 2018 Rav4 not driven for 2 weeks. Started right up.

At a loss to what’s going on. I know lack of use during the summer can drain a battery, but it only seems to impact the 2002 vehicle. Questions:

1. Why is this happening repeatedly even though the car is being driven? I’ve gone through 3 batteries in 3 years with this car.
2. Is it worth even charging the battery or should I just get a new one?
3. Is there something I’m overlooking?
TIA

 

[Tdbo]

I'd take it somewhere with expertise in electrical diagnosis , and have it checked for parasitic drain.
Have all terminals, cables, and grounds checked as well.
If that gets you nowhere, look at adding some sort of trickle charger, either electric or solar to keep the battery charged, if driving it more often is not possible.
Without a doubt, the battery is more than likely shorted and will need replaced again.

 

[bullwinkle]

3X a week for 30 minutes at a time should have been plenty to keep it charged. Maybe WM (or Sam’s or Costco) would be a better place to buy one, they at least will replace them no questions asked. I think I would have a talk with my local AAA as well, a warranty is a warranty…

 

[sky jumper]

you're experiencing what used to happen with my '98 grand cherokee. my issue was parasitic drain in the "courtesy lamp" circuit. pulled fuses one by one until the parasitic drain disappeared. removed the offending circuit's fuse permanently , now the battery is 6yr old and still going. of course I lost many of my interior lights...

 

[k1xv]

Get a CTEK battery maintainer, and use it whenever the car is parked near an electrical outlet. A CTEK will keep it charged without overcharging.

 

[blufeb95]

Sounds like a bad alternator or a bad parasitic draw, 30 minute trips 3x week should be enough to reasonably maintain the battery.

 

[nomas]

You have a ground somewhere pulling that battery down . If your alternator checked good , that's where my money is . 30 minutes three times a week is more than my truck gets driven some weeks . I just replaced a 5 yr old OEM battery this week .

 

[JHZR2]

30x3 is good for charging the battery. That said, with the battery so low, jumping it and running the alternator isn’t good practice and will wear the alternator and potentially overheat it. I’d get a decent charger so if it’s like that again, you can at least charge off of wall power to boost it before starting the vehicle.

 

[zzyzzx]

Get a CTEK battery maintainer, and use it whenever the car is parked near an electrical outlet. A CTEK will keep it charged without overcharging.

The OP's issue is clearly a parasitic drain which needs to be fixed. But sure, between now and then a battery minder is a good suggestion.

 

[ripcord]

You most likely have something wrong with the electrical system. First thing I would check is the charging voltage. If you see in excess of 15.2v or under 13.7v across the battery terminals at idle after driving for a while, that's not good. Also, if the battery sees more than 50 milliamps of current draw after sitting for a half hour, you've got a parasitic draw that is pulling the battery down.

 

[PandaBear]

Recently AAA has also given me headache on a car that sat for 2 months and say warranty voided. I would never buy batteries from them again in the future. Walmart or Costco from now on.

 

[The Critic]

Recently AAA has also given me headache on a car that sat for 2 months and say warranty voided. I would never buy batteries from them again in the future. Walmart or Costco from now on.

Unless you tell them, how would they know?

 

[Tdbo]

Recently AAA has also given me headache on a car that sat for 2 months and say warranty voided. I would never buy batteries from them again in the future. Walmart or Costco from now on.

What AAA doesn't know, won't affect you.
Volunteer nothing. Go 60 grit up the AAA ladder until you are compensated for your battery.

 

[PandaBear]

Unless you tell them, how would they know?

They jump it one day, then it died again the next day and you ask them for a jump. The record keeping in their logs make it impossible to hide unlike Walmart and Costco where you pull the battery out. In the end we told the AAA guy we will trickle charge it for 3 days then let him "test" it, so he finally gave up and just don't want to get called back again and again. Basically the battery guy told us that AAA was cracking down on them if they don't decline some of these warranty claim of cars sitting for a long time, otherwise they don't get paid. Not sure if it is true but if they do it is wrong compare to the rest of the industry.

 

[The Critic]

They jump it one day, then it died again the next day and you ask them for a jump. The record keeping in their logs make it impossible to hide unlike Walmart and Costco where you pull the battery out. In the end we told the AAA guy we will trickle charge it for 3 days then let him "test" it, so he finally gave up and just don't want to get called back again and again. Basically the battery guy told us that AAA was cracking down on them if they don't decline some of these warranty claim of cars sitting for a long time, otherwise they don't get paid. Not sure if it is true but if they do it is wrong compare to the rest of the industry.

Your story doesn’t add up. Asking for two jump starts in a row does not equate to a car being unused for a long time.

 

[PandaBear]

Your story doesn’t add up. Asking for two jump starts in a row does not equate to a car being unused for a long time.

That's what he said, maybe he was lying trying to get a sales instead of warranty work, but still, in the end he decided to just replace it for free so who knows.

One thing I know still is I wouldn't get another AAA battery unless emergency, just not worth dealing with this.

 

[eljefino]

AAA uses contractors and each AAA office is regional with its own contracts and rules. Probably got a bad contractor.

AAA are Exide anyway if I'm not mistaken, and those are trash.

You can test circuits with this dealie.