Changing 12v battery - Auris Hybrid

[Catlover]

I bought a new Optima AGM Battery today from a Battery specialist in Abergele. They usually do mail order but I went to pick up (bank holiday postal delays). Unfortunately they do not do a fitting service, but they said the garage across the road would probably fit it.  So I went and asked, as soon as I mentioned Hybrid the shutters came down. They did not want to touch the car in case the process of disconecting and fitting new upset the ECU and they ended up with a £800 bill!  I said ok, when I get home (40 miles away) I would change it myself. I have one of those small lithium Battery that has a car charging connectors that I was going to put across the battery cables, whip the old battery out, connect up new one, remove the small battery charging system.  I cant see anything wrong with this.....but are there any hidden problems??   If I just disconnected the old one, no charging unit, will I encounter problems when the new battery in??

[Cjohnston1982]

I personally would just change it and I wouldn’t bother with the lithium Battery. Just keep the keys with you should the car decide to lock itself. Toyota hybrids are quite normal cars with a bit of common sense built in to the design.

[Mike169]

Hi Joe.

Try giving these guys a call, they are a friendly firm and have helped me out in the past with free advise.

They have been fitting batteries for as long as I can remember.

https://www.lincon.co.uk/

Regards, Mike.

[eygo]

if your going to hook up a 12v supply then use the connector in the fuse box

so you dont have extra cables in the Battery area as its tight enough for space as it is.

i tied a small bag over the positive Battery connector to insulate the Battery connector

when you where lifting out the battery as you could possibly knock the positive cable

against the bodywork.

 

[Catlover]

Ok, bit the bullet this morning (before the sun gets too hot) and changed the Battery.  I put the lithium Battery charger across the access point under the bonnet and -ve to earth, the green light lit showing it was working ok.  Disconnected the -ve and tucked the cable aside, disconnected the +ve and put the dangly bit into the lithium Battery charger pouch (so it wouldnt touch earth accidently,  Put the new battery in place - the standard Toyota vent pipe fitted directly into the new battery, no mods needed, connected up, disconnected the lithium battery and started up, small test drive round the village.  Strange thing is, the lithium battery was connected all the way through, but I lost the date and time plus accumulated mpg - and yesterday as the weather very warm and I did the trip to Abergele to pick up the battery the mpg were getting noticeable better.

The battery I bought was an Optima with a code of YTS 2.7J, fits into the battery tray and the bonus was the vent pipe just pushed into the side just like the "old" Yuasa. Cost was £130 inc VAT, delivery would have been (I think) £8.

Thanks for the comments guys, I just needed a few words to help me get to do it.  The guy at the garage in Abergele just wouldnt touch it !

[Catlover]

Here is a photo of the Battery I fitted, the Optima, you can just see the vent hole to the rear of the top left hand edge (in the shadow of the red stump.  Pretty cool eh! Pity its hid in the boot. Its an AGM Battery by the way.

[Cjohnston1982]

The 12v  battery is hidden in the boot? I forgot about that. Glad it went well.

Toyota are built with some common sense  which allows owners to replace items themselves unlike some manufacturers which require a dealer visit to change a bulb.

[qettyz]

12V Battery swap should go nice without any extra batteties between. And FYI you can reset ECU error codes manually by disconnecting 12V Battery for 10-15 minutes.