On top of all this, my new 2014 Toyota Highlander (~1600 miles) wouldn't start on Friday so I missed my normal lunch with the guys at the pub. GRRRRRRRR.
I must say, these electronic cars do not like anything out of spec like a low battery. It protested so loudly that my neighbour across the street heard it - with some dismay. RoadSide Assistance came & boosted it & I drove it to the dealer. Of course, their fancy diagnostic gear found that it was less than half charge but other than that - no fault found. Why the low charge state - we don't know as nothing was left on in the car during the 6 days of no use.
I get it home & put it on slow charge (2 AMP) overnight & it never quite reaches full charge. Switch it up to 10 AMPs, & it fully charges in a couple of hours.
For my own interest, I thought that I'd track it with my trusty DVM. Keeping in mind that a fully charged battery should be ~12.6V with Min Charge of 12.4V, in the past 24 hours of not operating the car, the voltage has dropped from 12.58V, to 12.52V & tonight 12.4V.
According to several Highlander Forums, discharged batteries are not uncommon with this 2014 model - perhaps a bad batch?. Of course the service guys have never heard of such a thing. I pointed out an article in Edmund's.com where their long-term Highlander tester was stranded in a shopping center parking lot - along with many other similar occurrences. Their comment was - What is Edmund's?
In-frigging-credible...
TAM
Bad alternator?
Between that and a battery, it could be an easy fix and likely one you could get for free by complaining enough to the dealer esp. if it was bought brand new.
