Weird Problems With My Battery Please Help!!

[Jeremy]

Ok I will try and explain this without you all getting confused. I have had the original battery in my truck since now (2000 V8) Sometimes the truck would kind of die when I started it but that was it and not very often so I figured it was time to change it. I disconnected the terminals which are extrememly badly corroded. and I even snapped both nuts off of the positive and negative trying to get them off..I cleaned them both very well so you could see the copper very well and even with the nuts not on them they still fit tight around the battery posts.

I put them back on the old battery and now my truck wouldnt start. It just made the clicking noise from the starter. My radio and lights would come on though. I then jumped my truck and it started fine and I went around my block twice and then it all of a sudden died and I pulled over and had to have it jumped again. I thought okay I just need a new battery. I put in a duralast Gold which has over 600 CCAs (more than the stock battery) I connected everything and the lights went on bright but tried to start the truck and it wouldnt same problem. I jumped my truck and it started fine. I turned the truck off and tried to turn it back on and it wouldnt turn on..I figured the battery wasnt fully charged. I tried to charge it with a small 12v battery charger but when it said it was done the voltage read very low on my truck and the inside lights were very faint. I turn the key and the battery volts sank all the way down. Then they came up all of a sudden and my truck started and I turne off the switch and tried it again but the truck wouldnt start. I then hooked it back up to the battery charger to try it again and an hour later when I turn the key it shows that the battery is still low...what could be going on here? I know I have to get new battery terminals because the ones I have now are badly corowded..could it be that the strength of the battery isnt getting to the terminals?

I dont understand though because my inside lights turn on bright and the radio plays but when I try to start the car it wont unless I get it jumped. Any ideas at all would be extremely helpfull!!

[TustinTundra]

You may want to replace the nut and bolt for each clamp. Even though it fits "tight", you need to tighten the clamps in order to use all of the batteries power. I hope this helps.

[Jeremy]

Yeah since the nut and bolt broke off from bad corosion I will definitely be replacing both terminals which will have brand new nuts and bolts on them. I dont know why the radio and lights would go on so bright seems like there was plenty of juice and the battery read just below the 18 mark on the dash but when I would try and crank her over it would drop..we will see, Im going to purchase both pieces at toyota tomorrow..I think factory would be best since they are brass fittings.

Whatever the case may be I have definitely learned my lesson which is check and clean your battery OFTEN!!! I would only do it every 5,000 miles or so.

[Jeremy]

Well I think thats what did it because the truck started now that I put a new clamp on...20 bucks from the toyota dealer!!!! I feel violated...moral of the story..CLEAN YOUR TERMINALS REGULARLY!!!