Dead battery - a real PITA

Kato

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Car had about 400 miles when the battery went dead. Given that it's so new I wasn't prepared for this. Called a buddy to help me out and was happy to see a red spot under the hood for jump starting. But we struggled to find a convenient place for a ground. Ended up using the bolt nearby (see this thread). This did NOT work (stereo and door chime did not even come on). The engine tried to turn over but it barely moved and sounded like it was starving current.

Ended up using my friend's AAA and towed to his house (Toyota Road Side Assistance was useless - I'll post another thread on this story).

Went home and found CarGuy11 video to learn about the proper ground connection. Next day, dealer sent their tow truck and we tried jumping with the proper ground connection. As soon as the rescue battery was connected to those points, I heard relays and small motors whirring right away (good sign). Opened the door and heard the usual chime as well as the stereo, Pushed the start button and she came right up.

Worst thing ever - the owner's manual doesn't even show any info where to connect the rescue battery to jump the car. This is really bad considering the proper ground lug location is not obvious. Thanks to CarGuy11 for that tip.

Verdict from dealer: battery had an open circuit in one cell (basically a defect). New battery was installed. Noteworthy info: original battery was a BMW battery. New battery has Toyota name on it, but has a "Made in Germany" label on it. Gotta love it!
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MYNEWFAST

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Car had about 400 miles when the battery went dead. Given that it's so new I wasn't prepared for this. Called a buddy to help me out and was happy to see a red spot under the hood for jump starting. But we struggled to find a convenient place for a ground. Ended up using the bolt nearby (see this thread). This did NOT work (stereo and door chime did not even come on). The engine tried to turn over but it barely moved and sounded like it was starving current.

Ended up using my friend's AAA and towed to his house (Toyota Road Side Assistance was useless - I'll post another thread on this story).

Went home and found CarGuy11 video to learn about the proper ground connection. Next day, dealer sent their tow truck and we tried jumping with the proper ground connection. As soon as the rescue battery was connected to those points, I heard relays and small motors whirring right away (good sign). Opened the door and heard the usual chime as well as the stereo, Pushed the start button and she came right up.

Worst thing ever - the owner's manual doesn't even show any info where to connect the rescue battery to jump the car. This is really bad considering the proper ground lug location is not obvious. Thanks to CarGuy11 for that tip.

Verdict from dealer: battery had an open circuit in one cell (basically a defect). New battery was installed. Noteworthy info: original battery was a BMW battery. New battery has Toyota name on it, but has a "Made in Germany" label on it. Gotta love it!
Nice write-up.
Given the fact that nobody knew how to handle these vehicles in transit or even while at the dealership, being that they are BMW based in reality.
I would say a good 90% of the batteries in all of the vehicles sold either depleted or with week due to the fact that Toyota didn't train the dealerships properly on how to handle or shut down the cars.
 

hanswurst24

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Worst thing ever - the owner's manual doesn't even show any info where to connect the rescue battery to jump the car. This is really bad considering the proper ground lug location is not obvious.
Interesting... Engine compartment overview in European owner's manual:

EngineCompartment.png


Clearly #2 and #3 are the hook up points for "starting assistance" and external battery chargers...
And later on there is a full chapter on starting assistance:

StartingAssistance1.png
StartingAssistance2.png
StartingAssistance3.png


Can't really believe the US manual does not include these kind of essential information...
 

XtremeMaC

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from July 2019 version of US Manual:
upload_2020-6-29_15-6-31.png

upload_2020-6-29_15-4-9.png
 
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Kato

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This is very interesting. I have a 2020 manual. Yes I tis my fault that I missed the details about the engine compartment on page 293, section 6-1. Mobility. It does clearly show the connections for jump start.

However, when I search for jump starting, it lists the procedure on page 319, which has no diagram for connection. Anyone with a 2020 manual can attest to this? In fact, my manual has only 360 pages, and @ExtremeMac showed connection diagram on page 359 (WTF???)

Did you guys get a PDF of the (more complete) manual somewhere? I definitely need to get the same copy you have.

Also, here is the question about towing: how do you put the car in neutral when battery is completely dead? Again, I have a procedure for towing but nothing about putting it in neutral. All it says is flatbed towing is recommended, but the car has to be in neutral for this to happen.

One more interesting thing, I don't have a fire extinguisher. Is this for LE only? Hmmm.. do LE's come with better manual?
 

hanswurst24

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Toyota (or BMW - who knows?) does update the owner's manual from time to time. Depending on the production date of your Supra the owner's manual in your car is slightly different.
Updated versions can be downloaded from the Toyota website (https://www.toyota.com/owners/resources/warranty-owners-manuals or in my case https://www.toyota.de/tme#/my-toyota/eManual [including most of the available languages in Europe] ).
But... after comparing the manual for July 2019 from toyota.com and the matching version from Toyota Europe, the manual posted by @XtremeMaC seems to be European.
Maybe it's time to update my list of manuals with the newer versions and with the US versions: https://www.supramkv.com/threads/toyota-gr-supra-owner-manual-navigation.1845/

@Fire extinguisher: Don't think the US Supras got it, can only remember some European countries getting it... so, depends on the market.

@AT to neutral: Did a quick search in the manuals, but couldn't find instructions on how to put it in neutral with a dead battery. It states either have enough charge in the battery or hook up a charger, then press start/stop button (if the engine does not start, but the starter is running, press and hold the start/stop button), then put the AT into neutral and press the start/stop button again (or release it).
 

kona61

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Toyota (or BMW - who knows?) does update the owner's manual from time to time. Depending on the production date of your Supra the owner's manual in your car is slightly different.
Updated versions can be downloaded from the Toyota website (https://www.toyota.com/owners/resources/warranty-owners-manuals or in my case https://www.toyota.de/tme#/my-toyota/eManual [including most of the available languages in Europe] ).
But... after comparing the manual for July 2019 from toyota.com and the matching version from Toyota Europe, the manual posted by @XtremeMaC seems to be European.
Maybe it's time to update my list of manuals with the newer versions and with the US versions: https://www.supramkv.com/threads/toyota-gr-supra-owner-manual-navigation.1845/

@Fire extinguisher: Don't think the US Supras got it, can only remember some European countries getting it... so, depends on the market.

@AT to neutral: Did a quick search in the manuals, but couldn't find instructions on how to put it in neutral with a dead battery. It states either have enough charge in the battery or hook up a charger, then press start/stop button (if the engine does not start, but the starter is running, press and hold the start/stop button), then put the AT into neutral and press the start/stop button again (or release it).
There should be a manual release under the car. I think it requires an allen wrench and can't be reached without a jack. It is definitely not the most elegant solution.
 

hanswurst24

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There should be a manual release under the car. I think it requires an allen wrench and can't be reached without a jack. It is definitely not the most elegant solution.
Yep, that would be the release directly on the transmission.

Not 100% sure because I never had to use this and I do not plan to use this ever, but searching through TIS this is what comes up:
ATForcedRelease1.png
ATForcedRelease2.png
ATForcedRelease3.png


No surprise: this information is identical to the one found for the Z4 M40i.
( https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/...on/24-34-shift-valves-parking-lock/1VneHQeOWI )
 

XtremeMaC

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not trying to discredit anyone/anything, just showing the available information. In an emergency situation, first thing anyone would do is to open glove box, so newer online versions may be not come to mind immediately, but in the end it's great that Toyota/BMW is working out the mistakes/forgotten sections and releasing newer versions.
Having said that, I actually went into my glovebox and grabbed the hardcopy of manual for the 1st time :) here is what I found:
The close-up shots of terminals are missing.

20200630_093553.jpg


20200630_093836.jpg


20200630_093856.jpg
 

XtremeMaC

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Yep, that would be the release directly on the transmission.

Not 100% sure because I never had to use this and I do not plan to use this ever, but searching through TIS this is what comes up:
ATForcedRelease1.png
ATForcedRelease2.png
ATForcedRelease3.png


No surprise: this information is identical to the one found for the Z4 M40i.
( https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/...on/24-34-shift-valves-parking-lock/1VneHQeOWI )
damn that is cumbersome

My wife got stranded few years back in her 2015 Jeep Cherokee and this is what the road side had to do
Note: Not my video, not our vehicle.
 
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hanswurst24

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not trying to discredit anyone/anything, just showing the available information. In an emergency situation, first thing anyone would do is to open glove box, so newer online versions may be not come to mind immediately, but in the end it's great that Toyota/BMW is working out the mistakes/forgotten sections and releasing newer versions.
Having said that, I actually went into my glovebox and grabbed the hardcopy of manual for the 1st time :) here is what I found:
The close-up shots of terminals are missing.
Just compared the sections in all the US manuals (toyota.com) and the European manuals. You're right, the close-ups are missing. Even the newest available (US July 2020) does not have the close-ups.
Also interesting to note: the US manuals do have around 360 pages, some of the EU ones around 450. I won't compare each page, but it looks like not only text and whitespace was added ^^ But to be fair: the german 2019/03 manual had 440 pages, the most recent 2020/03 has 468 pages and a lot of the changes seem to be restructuring.
It's not the scope of this thread, but would be cool if anyone could compare the US manual with the EU one...

damn that is cumbersome

My wife got stranded few years back in her 2015 Jeep Cherokee and this is what the road side had to do
Yeah, it used to be so easy... Some ATs even had/have a special unlock button in the center console to release the parking lock.
 

XtremeMaC

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Even the newest available (US July 2020) does not have the close-ups.
FYI, I don't see any manual updates after Nov 2019 release, which was edited/released in September 2019...
 

kona61

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Yep, that would be the release directly on the transmission.

Not 100% sure because I never had to use this and I do not plan to use this ever, but searching through TIS this is what comes up:
ATForcedRelease1.png
ATForcedRelease2.png
ATForcedRelease3.png


No surprise: this information is identical to the one found for the Z4 M40i.
( https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/...on/24-34-shift-valves-parking-lock/1VneHQeOWI )
So they changed it, hm. It seems you could do it without special tools, but still seems like a stupid way to do this.
 
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Kato

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Toyota (or BMW - who knows?) does update the owner's manual from time to time. Depending on the production date of your Supra the owner's manual in your car is slightly different.
Updated versions can be downloaded from the Toyota website (https://www.toyota.com/owners/resources/warranty-owners-manuals or in my case https://www.toyota.de/tme#/my-toyota/eManual [including most of the available languages in Europe] ).
I followed the link above and clicked on the latest manual on the web site and it gives me the exact one as the hard copy i got with the car (incomplete) and has only 360 pages.

@ExtremeMac - what version of manual do you have and where did you get it from? I'd like to have that copy.
 

hanswurst24

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