Battery drainage

I have a 2022 Toyota 4 runner TRD off road premium. I bought it new in March 2022. Since then Toyota has put 3 new batteries in. The last one lasted 6 months ! They've tested the parasitic , each time showing me it was within normal limits. ( btw - each time they tested the battery I came in with, it would not hold a charge ) I will say that I have only 8,900 miles on it - you probably have guessed what they said was the problem each time this happened, I don't drive it enough. I need to know if this reasoning is credible.

 

Welcome.

My wife drives a Hyundai that was 2 years old yesterday and she has 9600 on it with no such battery issues. Still has the original battery. I doubt it’s your use.

 

Buy a trickle charger and keep it hooked. If that solves your issue, you are indeed driving it less.

 

Not your issue, my 23 only has 4800 miles on it and zero battery issues. If possible I'd try a different dealer.

 

Alternator is what I would ask them to bench test. Not on a little battery machine there like autozone. Take it out and bench tested properly and this could be the issues. Unless there is something really odd in the fuse/starter area. 3 batteries seem too many in 2 yrs. One I will buy but 3 no.

 

When you do drive it, how far/long do you drive it for? If you are letting it sit for long periods of time and only driving it for a couple of miles each way it may be that you aren't sufficiently charging the battery.

 

My wife's 2018 sits for 3-4 weeks without being started. She gets in it and it starts right up. Original battery no problems. My 2011 had a battery drain a I took it to a automotive shop. They said it was the remote start causing the problem. They disconnected the remote start. The problem started again. Took it to a automotive shop that does car electric only. The battery was bad. Take it to an automotive shop that does electrical work and see what they say.

 

When you drive it, are you only doing short trips? And if so, how short? How many minutes? How many miles?

 

Thanks everyone for your input, I appreciate it. Mostly its city driving ranging from 5 to 20 miles. It might sit for 2 - days per week. As far as tracking device, if there is one on my truck, would the parasitic drain still be within normal limits ? I had a 218 4 runner before this one, same amount of driving and no problem with battery. Of course when I brought this up they tell me there's a lot more electrical " devices " on when car is off in this one. My neighbor has a 2021 Kia Telluride, my sister a '22 kia Sorento , drives LESS than I do - neither one of this have had a problem.

 

What did the dealer say was the tested parasitic drain current?
Specification is less than 50 milliamps. Mine tests at about 12milliamps. But it takes about 20 minutes of monitoring it for all the onboard computers to go to sleep to get that reading.
It’s explained here:
https://www.4runners.com/threads/parasitic-draw-power-draw-issue-help.30876/#post-438519

 

This. Get a multi-meter, go on Youtube and watch how to test for parasitic drain. It's super easy. Report back your measurements.

 

This is very abnormal. Mine sometimes sits for a month or two at a time between driving and it starts with no issues. Mine is a 23 ORP.

 

I have a 2022 SR5P purchased in Oct 2021. It has 12k miles. Most are very short trips and it sits days at a time between trips. Still on original battery. Yours is definitely not normal. As someone else said, I would try a different shop/dealer.