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The mkiv Supra Owners Club

Flat Battery (plus what to replace it with)


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Name:

Flat battery

 

Also known as:

“My battery won’t hold a charge any more”

“My car just makes a clicking noise when I try to start it”

 

What is it?

Your battery is flat.

 

Usually caused by:

Leaving a light on

Duff battery losing its charge

Bad connection somewhere, usually in an aftermarket alarm system

Rarely, a bad alternator

 

Why?

Pretty simple this one, battery charged by car while it’s running etc., drained by electrical load while car isn’t running blah blah. However the tricky thing is, if you’ve got a battery that no longer holds a charge – what sort of battery do you need to replace it?

 

Replacement Batteries

For a start, Toyota will sell you a battery for a UK-spec for £50.

 

The best bet at the moment is a Halfords HCB005 – a calcium maintenance-free battery that is currently on offer at £55 at the time of writing, normal price is £70. It has 510 cold crank amps which is easily enough for a Supra. Three year warranty as well.

 

Other recommended batteries are:

Exide Maxima Deep cycle 900DC Gel battery

Premium Supreme Lucas battery

 

Also of note:

It appears that some Supras, perhaps the later vvti ones, have small terminals so either you need a battery with small terminal posts, or replace the terminals with more ‘normal’ sized ones.

 

-Ian

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well the one that i had in before was a £40 job , and tbh even when i was using the car regularly it wasnt lasting more than a year , and the guy was getting a bit pissed at me bringing it back all the time .

so i suppose the price of the halfords one isnt that bad plus a 4 year guarantee , anyway got to get the alarm changed first , thats proving difficult , two shops ive phoned wont touch it as its second hand .

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Can we have an update on this thread? I have a J Spec TT that wont be a daily so I need the right battery for it and maybe some advice on best practices for long term storage...I can at best start the car every day or so...

 

Just get a trickle charger. For £40, you can keep an £65 battery alive for years. Just starting it every couple of days will not do the car or the battery any good.

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Just get a trickle charger. For £40, you can keep an £65 battery alive for years. Just starting it every couple of days will not do the car or the battery any good.

 

cheers ill look into that

Do you have any recommendations on batteries, I have done searches but most are a year or two old... :-)

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