Island Of Misfits

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OK -- Now the old guy needs advice/help. The problem is up front and in my face:

Herself went to the store (5 miles away). When she came out, our 2020 Camry with <7000 miles on it was stone dead. ZERO electricity for anything at all. She got me on the phone, and Scott, who was about to leave to go back to Oregon, canceled that and we hopped in his rental.

A pretty lady in the parking lot offered her jumper cables and we got the Camry started right up. Decided to take the car (still under warranty) to Toyota. On the way, I stopped at AutoZone and had them check the battery. 12.3V <-- Fine.

At the dealership, they told me the "battery had one cell that had no fluid", and they'd fixed that. (Side note: I am an EE. That explanation made no sense.)

Now, my Beautiful Witch is afraid to go anywhere alone, and my busted bod will give me toco if I have to ride with her every day for shopping, etc.

Went back to Toyota, and told them I want to have them do the warranty 10K thing, and to pay attention to the totally electrically dead thing.

Bottom line, they came back with: "There is a special part for the battery, and it has been on order for months. You need to hook up a trickle charger every night to the car."

For on the road fails, "You need to have a jump-starter you can keep in the trunk."

This is, of course, totally unacceptable to Herself: I did buy ($130) a jump-starter and put it in the trunk (must be recharged in the house monthly, BTW). And a trickle-charger ($40). <-- But hooking up my car every night??

Then I did a Duck search and found this:
https://lemberglaw.com/2020-toyota-camry-problems-complaints-lemon/
https://us.toyotaownersclub.com/forums/topic/7304-2020-camry-battery-going-dead/
Here is my problem summed:

Our car is now very nearly useless. But it is needed. We live in the boonies. I checked those links, and found out about Lemon Law. <-- since the first time it went dead was NOT within the right time frame... I am screwed Lemon Law wise.

I need sooper brilliant wrenchers (eg: Boo) to tell me what to do.
 
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Unca Walt said:
OK -- Now the old guy needs advice/help. The problem is up front and in my face:

Herself went to the store (5 miles away). When she came out, our 2020 Camry with <7000 miles on it was stone dead. ZERO electricity for anything at all. She got me on the phone, and Scott, who was about to leave to go back to Oregon, canceled that and we hopped in his rental.

A pretty lady in the parking lot offered her jumper cables and we got the Camry started right up. Decided to take the car (still under warranty) to Toyota. On the way, I stopped at AutoZone and had them check the battery. 12.3V <-- Fine.

At the dealership, they told me the "battery had one cell that had no fluid", and they'd fixed that. (Side note: I am an EE. That explanation made no sense.)

Now, my Beautiful Witch is afraid to go anywhere alone, and my busted bod will give me toco if I have to ride with her every day for shopping, etc.

Went back to Toyota, and told them I want to have them do the warranty 10K thing, and to pay attention to the totally electrically dead thing.

Bottom line, they came back with: "There is a special part for the battery, and it has been on order for months. You need to hook up a trickle charger every night to the car."

For on the road fails, "You need to have a jump-starter you can keep in the trunk."
Click to expand...
That's Bull Donkey either demand a new battery or have them fix the problem now
Can not have your lovely wife breaking down .
I always carry a Good mechanic quality jump pack and recharge it once a month in my truck under rear seat. I have a brand new Gel battery and that even goes dead on me in very cold weather.
I use a trickle charger if it is going to be extremely cold also.
But for where you are the car should start with a battery if replace every 4-5yrs .
I get more life of of they because I do forced battery charges ever so often to top the charge up.
Walt if it is a major concern I would say prorate the battery under warranty and have a new one replaced . But a Dealer will kill you on the price, better off doing it yourself with a good battery from local auto parts place that your car requires.
Be The squeaky wheel ...........................
 
Unca Walt said:
OK -- Now the old guy needs advice/help. The problem is up front and in my face:

Herself went to the store (5 miles away). When she came out, our 2020 Camry with <7000 miles on it was stone dead. ZERO electricity for anything at all. She got me on the phone, and Scott, who was about to leave to go back to Oregon, canceled that and we hopped in his rental.

A pretty lady in the parking lot offered her jumper cables and we got the Camry started right up. Decided to take the car (still under warranty) to Toyota. On the way, I stopped at AutoZone and had them check the battery. 12.3V <-- Fine.

At the dealership, they told me the "battery had one cell that had no fluid", and they'd fixed that. (Side note: I am an EE. That explanation made no sense.)

Now, my Beautiful Witch is afraid to go anywhere alone, and my busted bod will give me toco if I have to ride with her every day for shopping, etc.

Went back to Toyota, and told them I want to have them do the warranty 10K thing, and to pay attention to the totally electrically dead thing.

Bottom line, they came back with: "There is a special part for the battery, and it has been on order for months. You need to hook up a trickle charger every night to the car."

For on the road fails, "You need to have a jump-starter you can keep in the trunk."
Click to expand...
Walt I never heard of a special part for any battery and a cell being low will not kill it unless it was Dry and that could have killed that cell (BAD) Most batteries are maintenance free and we can not add anything ourselves or even the dealer can not unless they pull the closed plugs which no one ever does.
Are you sure they did not say a part was needed for the vehicles charging system?
If so find out the part number and check local junk yards and have your reg/mech install it if you can not yourself.
 
ROSTERMAN said:
That's Bull Donkey either demand a new battery or have them fix the problem now
Can not have your lovely wife breaking down .
I always carry a Good mechanic quality jump pack and recharge it once a month in my truck under rear seat. I have a brand new Gel battery and that even goes dead on me in very cold weather.
I use a trickle charger if it is going to be extremely cold also.
But for where you are the car should start with a battery if replace every 4-5yrs .
I get more life of of they because I do forced battery charges ever so often to top the charge up.
Walt if it is a major concern I would say prorate the battery under warranty and have a new one replaced . But a Dealer will kill you on the price, better off doing it yourself with a good battery from local auto parts place that your car requires.
Be The squeaky wheel ...........................
Click to expand...
Unfortunately, it ain't the battery. There is a parasitic drain going on somehow.

And regarding the "one cell empty" thing... I am an fargin EE. You can imagine the twist in my eyebrows as a kid one third my age tried to ******** me with cramps and jolts jargon.

Oh... and as I was leaving yesterday, a Toyota dude walks up with a $21,000 voucher to buy my car. If they offered me 100% purchase price back, I'd take it and go get a Nissan or something. But $21K for a super-low mileage, spotless $28K car? That means it depreciated MORE THAN ONE DOLLAR per mile for the less than 7K miles on it.
 
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