Thread: Replacement battery for a D4

Originally Posted by BradC

I'd want to be seeing better than a 24 month warranty if I was paying that for a battery.

True dat

So, everyone is talking about huge battery's working on perfect vehicles, the reality is but.. starters and battery's are sized together.
The idea is if there is a mechanical failure the battery will not have the juice to kill the starter. This could be a manual vehicle that the operator had forgotten the push the clutch in. Put a battery in that's to big and it'll keep turning the starter with more power against the brakes.
The talk about double CCA is actually relevant. You can buy a n70zz from Repco with 600cca or one from SSB or others with up to 1000cca, which is nearly double.

I've seen jump starts kill starters. Both vehicles had good battery's.

Agreed not an issue in a D4 as all the battery's in our size are similar in capacity. But as Jeffster says.. The answers remain. You can have too much CCA available to a battery. Yes the starter draws it. Bit of the starter is turning something that has an issue. It'll pay the price.

Originally Posted by DiscoJeffster

You still miss the point. The question was binary and my answer was also binary but incorrect. That the likelihood or reality of actually damaging one are different is a moot point. The correct answer is yes, you can have too much CCA, HOWEVER in reality you’re unlikely to ever achieve too much capacity in a vehicle with restricted battery capacity, but caveat emptor.

The scenario where too much CCA damages a starter motor is likely only if the starter is used for long periods with excessive CCA - eg excessive cranking where the engine doesn’t start and is continuously cranked. Again, one in one million case and unlikely to occur in our vehicles, but doesn’t change the fact that at least one manufacturer states you can have too much CCA, at least for their brand starter.

Sorry Jeff but I have not missed anything.

You are simply posting about a problem that does not exist in the first place.

Can starters motors burn out, sure can, but there is other factors involved other than CCA.

Originally Posted by drivesafe

Sorry Jeff but I have not missed anything.

You are simply posting about a problem that does not exist in the first place.

Can starters motors burn out, sure can, but there is other factors involved other than CCA.

I've seen it Tim, unlikely yes.
We had a work Land Cruiser that failed the gearbox, I went to start it, click click click, turned the dual battery system on, click smoke.
I've also done it trying to jump start a truck on a breakdown.. Pulled down to 8volts trying to start. He had only stopped to get fuel. So I hooked up the jump pack.. end of story for that starter too. Both starters were fine until I gave them access to more power. I now carry a CTEK battery tester with me so I don't assume

Anyway it's so off topic..
we all agree it's not likely to be an issue on a D4, and after a failure that destroys the starter you'll have other things on your mind bigger the starter.

Hi Josh, and I have only had one starter motor fail.

It too was in a Toyota, but while my Toyota was the first vehicle I put one of my dual battery systems in, the starter motor failed years before that first install.

As I stated, I am aware starter motors can fail, but there are other factors than CCA.

Also as started, with tens of thousands of Traxide isolators installed and the fact that most of these will mean the CCA will be around double that of the single starter battery, there is is just no evidence that increased CCA will CAUSE a starter motor to fail.

Originally Posted by drivesafe

Hi Josh, and I have only had one starter motor fail.

It too was in a Toyota, but while my Toyota was the first vehicle I put one of my dual battery systems in, the starter motor failed years before that first install.

As I stated, I am aware starter motors can fail, but there are other factors than CCA.

Also as started, with tens of thousands of Traxide isolators installed and the fact that most of these will mean the CCA will be around double that of the single starter battery, there is is just no evidence that increased CCA will CAUSE a starter motor to fail.

Hey Tim,

The question was "can to much CCA be bad" the answer is yes, but it's got to be coupled with Mechanical failure.

Yes, You are right, the factor usually is abuse, over cranking or putting them under water in mud etc, not having to many good battery's.

Or another perspective :

Originally Posted by josh.huber

We had a work Land Cruiser that failed the gearbox, I went to start it, click click click, turned the dual battery system on, click smoke.

Perhaps the starter had failed and the entire reason for the "click click click" was excessive current draw.

Originally Posted by josh.huber

I've also done it trying to jump start a truck on a breakdown.. Pulled down to 8volts trying to start. He had only stopped to get fuel. So I hooked up the jump pack.. end of story for that starter too.

Maybe the battery pulled down to 8V because the starter had a shorted turn and was drawing excessive current.

Originally Posted by josh.huber

Both starters were fine until I gave them access to more power.

Or maybe both starters were stuffed resulting in the no-start. Your additional grunt just accelerated the troubleshooting process.

when I had my D2, I had alternator/battery problems at one stage so I took it too an old school auto electrician who pulled the alternator and rebuilt it, and suggested the battery was tired. He recommended a far more powerful Supercharge Gold battery and set it up to best charge rates and he did a couple of friendly little jobs that he saw would need doing.

It is the only battery I have ever had that has lasted 5yrs plus....plus because I dont know how much longer it lasted as I sold the D2.

I have since replaced the battery in my Ranger after only 2yrs and bought another big fat Supercharge out at Coober Pedy. It's now been in 4yrs and is showing no signs of age.

I think it's the old adage.....you get what you pay for.