Bonapartis

Hi all, I'm an automotive moron with a dead battery and a shop battery charger.

I am unsure of what portion of the body I should attach the negative clamp to. It's an old car in great condition that's always been well treated so I don't want to risk just clamping onto what my dumb *** thinks looks good. I guess I can just clamp onto a nice part of the engine block? I looked in the owners manual available online but didn't find anything specifically on recharging.

Also is there any way to make Lexus replace/warranty a Lexus-dealer battery which the techs failed to mark with a date?

98 sc300

gerrb

iTrader: (34)

your or dealer invoice will show when it was bought and if still under warranty

why don't you just clamp the negative to the negative pole of the battery ?

Zerodrag

iTrader: (5)

I always attached the negative to one of the strut mounting bolts on my other car.

salimshah

It is not recommended to complete the circuit near the battery ... just incase there is spark and the hydrogen + oxygen near the battery get recombined.

Here are the steps.

1. Unplug the charger.
2. Remove/slide_off the insulation cover (if you still have one) off the + terminal.
3. Set the proper settings on the charger [12v maintenance free etc if there].
4. Connect the + clamp of the charger to the + terminal of the battery.
5. Now find a suitable ground on the engine or the body. I find the leading edge nut of the strut not so far but not near the battery. This is where I connect the - of the charger.
6. After ensuring nothing is loose, plug in the charger.
7. Watch the meter on the charger. It should quickly come down to about 5 amp or less.
8. Make sure there are no sparks / open flame near the battery.


More important is the disconnect procedure.

1. Unplug the charger.
2. Remove the - clamp.
3. Remove the + clamp
4. If present slide the insulator cap on the + terminal.

I was skeptical about the amount of hydrogen and oxygen that comes out and like an idiot (yes I was young) brought a lit matchstick next to 6v motorcycle battery being charge. There was loud pop and part of the battery top flew off. The casing split and the acid started seeping out. Luckily it was in a porcelain tub, so h2so4 did not cause much damage ,, but the battery was done.

Salim

Bonapartis

Thanks for your help guys. I followed your directions exactly Salim.

Sadly after 4 hours on medium it would not crank when the charger was removed. I left it on "12v Low" for 3 hours while I went out and tried again, it would not crank again (dash lights appear full or near-full brightness).

Now I guess I will leave it on the low setting for another 4 or 5 hours and try again? Or overnight? Right now I have it set on "'12V Low". The amp meter on the charger shows a dead 0 on the dial... Advice?

Ramblerman

If the charger is not showing any amps going into the battery after a bit of charging, as some older batteries may be slow to take a charge, then more than likely your battery has sulfated on the plates inside and will need to be replaced. As far as battery explosions go, when I was in tech school I saw a 68 Nova trunk lid get blown 30 ft in the air off the car and 2 guys get injured when trying to charge a frozen battery and they made a spark.

Bonapartis

Thank you for your advice Rambler

I've taken it off the charger for the night, didn't try cranking again, will wait till morning. As I understand it doesn't the amp meter on a battery charger go down to zero when the battery is supposed to be done charging?

The battery has died completely twice now within the last 45 days or so, after not being touch for roughly 3 days, I'll go through the receipts to see if I have one showing the old battery is under warranty (it's lame that well-paid techs would leave the date unmarked on it) and if it isn't I guess I'll probably have AAA come out and buy one of their batteries and the guy install it for me, if you that sounds like the best option to you all. I'm open to all advice and appreciate it too.

edit: what is typical charging time for a 12v charger shop charger to bring a battery up to full charge from utterly dead? It's this charger http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Solar-Ch...-/151525035833

salimshah

Not all batteries can be recharged to normal. If you left a load to discharge the battery then maybe it can recharged .

Can yo take the battery or better still take the car to the place you bought the battery? Let them diagnose further and come back with a proposal to you.

My understanding is that if you bought the battery from Lexus and it is still under warranty (based on the invoice .. they keep a history), they will honor it. If you can drive to them, good, if not bring your receipt of the battery you purchase to make your car drivable. Please call to verify.

Salim

Ramblerman

Most chargers will show you how many amps the battery is pulling while you are charging it. Say for instance you have it on the 10 amp setting, the battery will pull up to that amount depending on how dead it is and how good it is. Then as the battery charges up it should decrease in pull till it shows charged. Some also use a color scale of red to green. Red dead Green charged. Some pro chargers also have a start setting on them. Could'nt open your link to see what type of charger you have and not familiar with the solar types.

Bonapartis

Hello all, shamefully the car has been sitting since I last posted. I removed the old battery tonight and am going to Walmart to buy a new one tomorrow morning.

I just had one question, is this black-sheathe type thing around my 7 year old lexus battery something I'm supposed to retain and put on the new battery, or am I about to rip a battery in twain if I pull on it more?

t2d2

iTrader: (8)

I would ditch the battery box. The SC I just bought had one very similar, and the battery hold-down was only making contact with the box. All that really held the battery in place was gravity and friction.

I'm surprised to see someone with possibly the same box. Were they original equipment on the cars? I've got a Group 24F battery, which is a slightly smaller form factor than original (27F?), so maybe the box fits the original spec better.

Ramblerman

I've got one of those batterys that look like a six pack with terminals, It never goes dead and has lots of cranking power, but for the life of me I can't remember the brand name at the moment.I have had good luck with the everlast batteries tho. Suggest if you can afford it to buy their top of line one.

Bonapartis

Car won't start with new battery, was running seemingly perfectly before I let it sit with the bad Lexus battery. Should of replaced it immediately. I understand it could be a clogged fuel filter or clogged fuel injectors potentially? Full lights on the dash, radio, it's getting power. Car has been in the family for a decade and generally been extremely reliable, but mileage is almost 240k. Not loaded with cash nor flush with automobile knowledge, a deadly combination.