Add water to battery?

i thought this was a thing of the past with modern/'sealed' batteries, but now that my dad has retired, he's been creating things to work on. I just assumed this was one of them. Apparently, you're supposed to add distilled water to cars????? I've been driving for 20 years and have never done this and have never had batteries die prematurely.

Anyone do this with their truck or other vehicles?

 

We have to add distilled water to electric vehicles at work. They are used 22 hours a day. Adding water weekly. They have battery banks of 12, or more.

I check my levels in my tundra battery, but have never needed to add.

 

The reason distilled water is suggested is because it has very few impurities, which can over time contribute to corrosion in the battery plates. That being said, most new style batteries are 'sealed', and under normal circumstances will almost never need water added. The only time I use distilled water is when I am filling a new battery for the first time.

 

A word of caution from someone who has had a DROP of battery acid in his eyes (I use to work for Exide Battery)... ***wear eye protection***. It didn't do any long term damage that I'm aware of, but it felt like a hot dagger burning through my eye. So anytime you are touching a battery be safe as you never know when something could crack or pop off and splatter acid.

 

Yesterday during my Opsho treatment of my rear bumper support (for those who do not know Ospho treatment is diluted phosphoric acid. My understanding is that it etches the metal on a microscopic level, and dissolves rust particles. Letting new paint cling on much tighter.)

I apparently had gotten some either on my forehead, and it dripped down under my safety squints due to sweat, or it just flew right over my glasses, and into my left eye. Either way it hurt, and felt like what I can only describe as "my eyeball is melting."

I read the instructions prior to use, and immediately flushed with the garden hose that I had handy just for that occasion.

Just make smart decisions even if you're doing dumb shit like me

 

The safety advice here should be listened too.

As far as distilled water, I use it everywhere including the radiator. But then again, I worked in a lab and had access to reagent grade distilled water. Long Island has hard water. I noticed that if I used distilled even the radiator built up less mineral deposits. In a battery, it would make sense too. Impurities could shorten the life of the battery. How much may depend on the tap water. It isn't the same throughout the country.

 

If your battery has caps that can snap on & off, your battery can & should be topped off with distilled H2O periodically. This is especially important in hot climates... I topped off the batteries in both trucks and the riding mower last week.

 

You can get an electrolyte tester for around 20 dollars that will help you test the acid in your battery. The plates in your battery should never be showing so if they are add some water. With that being said, when it dies, and it will as Toyota uses weak batteries, buy an AGM battery and you’ll never have to worry about it again as they don’t use liquid electrolyte, only a gel and they are sealed.

 

200 bucks is nothing to spend on a battery you use every time you run your truck and something that directly affects reliability and peace of mind. I’d gladly pay that to never have to worry about adding water for 3-5 years.

 

The 2015+ Toyota batteries do have removable caps, but they never need water...they don't last that long.

 

The OEM batteries seem to be really picky about needing water. Battery acid is nasty stuff, so that’s another good reason to upgrade to zero maintenance AGM

 

Being new to the Tundra experience, I can't speak to the oem battery life expectancy in them, but I have owned two 4Runners and my battery experience with them is quite amazing. I bought a new, '03 4Runner SR5, V6. I kept it for about 11 years. The original battery lasted the entire time I owned it. At about year 9, because of a trailer wiring problem, the alternator in it fried while I was on a hunting trip, and I had to drive it home using only the battery, about an hour trip. About 45 min into the ride home, the battery finally gave out, and I bought a replacement at a local Walmart, to make it the rest of the way home. I put the oem Panasonic battery on a trickle charger, and when the indicator read green, I put it on a block and left it in my garage as a spare. in '14, I acquired a 2nd '03 4Runner, V8 from a friend, with over 235k on it. It didn't have the original battery when I bought it. That battery, a Walmart Everstart, started to fail about two years later, and in a pinch, I put the old oem battery I had been saving, after bringing it up to full charge, in it place. I intended to get a new battery when I had the chance. I continued to drive the 2nd 4Runner for almost 4 more years, still on the same '03 oem Panasonic battery right up until the day I traded the 4Runner in on my '08 Tundra I now have. And from what others in the TR4.org forum have posted, the oem Panasonic batteries in the 4Runners were known for their amazing durability.

I can't explain it, but I know it happened.

 

Distilled or De-ionised water is used to top off batteries because it has a no natural polarity. When added to battery cells it then can move towards the positive or negative charge of the cells more easily. Tap water has precharged ions that take on a positive or negative base, which when added to a battery, can actually slightly slow the charging process until the new water acclimates to the new polarity.
So for good measure, always add distilled or De-ionised water to a wet battery for best results.