I have a 2008 scion tc with about 55K miles on it...lately due to the cold weather my battery turns over sluggish...yesterday i had to get it jumped three times though...I see on the forum people saying that their original panasonic battery has 100k miles or more on it...anybody else have issues with their panasonic battery...and also, should i put distilled water in it to see if that is the issue?

thanks much!

 

the battery life has less to do with mileage, and more to do with just time. I had the original panasonic batter in my 2005 tC since I bought it new in 11/2004 and didn't replace it until september of 2012, so that is nearly 8 years on one battery. It depends on your climate and electical system demands. There is an indicator on the battery itself to tell you if you need to add water, but it might just be time to replace it. I know one of my friends with the same model year tC has to replace his in only 4 years.

 

i did see the indicator but about the water...etc...but wasn't sure what it meant...the indicator is neither red (needs water) blue (fine) white (charge needed) it is no color at all....so still puzzled...i did look in the cells and they seem to have very little water in them, so i am going to try and put water in them and see if that helps. I live in Louisiana so pretty warm all year round, but we have had a few cold "snaps" in the last few days..hence the problem...

 

At least you got five years out of it..and even though we all would like to get more than that I'd I'd just go ahead and get a new battery. Anytime you need more than one jump a day means you immediately replace the battery just in the hope that's all it is.

 

Autozone or the like can check battery condition for you. Although it's most likely the battery, there's always the possibility of an alternator problem -- they should be able to check that as well. On the other hand, if you've been making any wiring mods (including radio/speaker install), then you could have partially shorted something.