[red sled]

Our 2014 RAV4 needs a new battery, this winter it's getting slower to crank and almost didn't start today. Just to be sure I'll put a load tester on it and be sure it's charging before I buy another battery.


I used to make a living working on cars in the 70's but I haven't kept up with the newer cars with sensitive components and computers. Is changing the starting battery pretty straight forward or are there considerations/issues related to the computer and any memory settings within the vehicle ? Thank you.

 

[KTooTall]

There is nothing special that you have to do. Disconnecting it will cause the systems to reset. So you will loose some memory of things. And sometimes the engine will idle rough after a battery replacement until it relearns how much fuel it needs to idle correctly.

 

[red sled]

There is nothing special that you have to do. Disconnecting it will cause the systems to reset. So you will loose some memory of things. And sometimes the engine will idle rough after a battery replacement until it relearns how much fuel it needs to idle correctly.

Great and thank you !

 

[Rav4system3]

And don't hook it up backwards LOL. As hard as that seems to be it does happen.

 

[Seliger]

During the disconnection of the old battery and connection of a new one, the vehicle's on-Board network can be powered from an external source of electric current. Then no settings will go wrong.

 

[Jinjer]

My navigation system and radio wouldn't power on after the battery was replaced in my Rav4 2009. Mechanic told me to go to a Toyota Dealership for a code, and when I got to the dealership I was told Toyota Radios dont have codes, unlike Hondas.

 

[DL175]

My navigation system and radio wouldn't power on after the battery was replaced in my Rav4 2009. Mechanic told me to go to a Toyota Dealership for a code, and when I got to the dealership I was told Toyota Radios dont have codes, unlike Hondas.

Well the radio would prompt with the message to enter a code if that was the case.

 

[Jinjer]

There was no such message. Screen is blank, it won't turn on. I was told it could be a blown fuse. I hope it isn't anything serious where I'll have to replace the whole audio system. Kinda wished now that I had waited until the battery was really bad before replacing it and gone to a different mechanic.

 

[PhenixFord]

What about the power windows? Reset auto functions?

 

[Jinjer]

Power windows work, the clock, everything else seems to be working. It's just the navigation system and radio.

 

[Tacorav]

Use this...

During the disconnection of the old battery and connection of a new one, the vehicle's on-Board network can be powered from an external source of electric current. Then no settings will go wrong.

Exactly Seliger....I always use external power such as a booster back pictured below

Connect pack to car wires before removing off of old battery terminals to maintain current to the car

 

[Jinjer]

Wish the mechanic had done that. Then I wouldn't be in this situation. I'm dreading the idea of having to replace the navigation system entirely.

 

[Mikey D.]

I used this device without any problems when I changed my battery - Schumacher Memory Settings Saver. Got it at Auto Zone. :wink

 

[KTooTall]

Wish the mechanic had done that. Then I wouldn't be in this situation. I'm dreading the idea of having to replace the navigation system entirely.

Is it an aftermarket system? Has anyone checked the connections and made sure it was getting power? I've replaced tons of batteries and have never seen a head unit quit working after battery replacement. Unless the battery was connected backwards, which usually causes tons of fuses to blow. But if everything else is working that's probably not the case.

 

[max5gen]

Power windows work, the clock, everything else seems to be working. It's just the navigation system and radio.

I'd start from checking fuses. Are those aftermarket units?

It's hard to believe bad battery can damage anything in the car modern or not- all that electronics is designed for such problems otherwise it wodn't be very useful.

 

[red sled]

Apparently I haven't been getting updates for this thread. Thank you all for the great suggestions and advice !

 

[Blogson]

If you are still having problems, have you checked the fuses as has been suggested? The mechanic may have caused the problem. I changed the battery on my '11 RAV4 myself and only made absolutely certain that positive and negative were properly connected. All of my settings including also the radio presets worked as before. It took a couple of short trips before the engine management system returned to as it had been previously.

 

[Richard Lee]

My 2014 was cranking slower during cold weather since I purchased it used. Since I don't drive much, I normally use a battery tender. This winter the battery tender (Schumacher 1562A) didn't help as much as last winter. So, since the battery was pretty old (almost 6 years and 60k miles) I just replaced it with the Auto Zone 'Gold' 5 year battery (Nov 2019) and assumed the slow cranking and lower voltage would be gone.
Nope, this new battery is not staying charged either. It's better than the old one, but not a lot better.
If it's off the tender a few days, and we drive around town a few miles, park for a while, we see lower voltage and have slow cranking.
After driving around for a while (charging at 14 volts), last week I stopped at AutoZone and had the young lady check my new Gold battery. The test-set showed normal voltage and cranking amps.

I checked the standby drain on the battery. It's up and down for a while, then comes to rest at 150 MA..
I've heard the normal drain is 50 MA or less.
My question is, what should the standby drain be on a 2014 RAV4? 50 or 150 MA?

 

[JerryIrons]

In case anybody else reads this thread, thought I would throw in my experience. I recently swapped out the battery in my 2017. And it went just like any other car swapping batteries, nothing weird happened. In fact it was a simple job. All the nuts were 10mm, and I never even lost my radio stations. Take old one out, clean off terminal wires, put new one in, spray battery terminal protector on it and done.

 

[Jimrayoden]

In case anybody else reads this thread, thought I would throw in my experience. I recently swapped out the battery in my 2017. And it went just like any other car swapping batteries, nothing weird happened. In fact it was a simple job. All the nuts were 10mm, and I never even lost my radio stations. Take old one out, clean off terminal wires, put new one in, spray battery terminal protector on it and done.

Good info on installing new battery…anyone else swap battery on a 2020 Rav4 without using “memory saver” device of some sort (e.g. without losing radio, nav, etc)?