Hello all, I've got a tiny problem. My mother's 07 toyota camry hybrids regular 12 battery is registering 17.58 volts on a multimeter. Why? 3 months ago the car was in a small front end collision and was at the dealer for 3 weeks getting fixed. The battery issue started a month later With the car not starting, but was jumped and all was well until a month later (now) the battery died again. It was jumped and now reads 17.58. Why is this happening? It's the original battery and the car only has 55000 miles on it. Does this happen with older batterys, was there a ground not conected from the acedent? What should be the next steps? A optima yellow top was ordered btw.


Thanks in advance
Rob

 

Rob,

Have you checked to make sure your multi-meter is accurate and reading right? I can't think of anyway that a 12 volt battery could be running over 17 volts. Did you disconnect the battery before checking the voltage or was it left connected?

Either way, mileage doesn't matter much on these batteries, years do and yours is more than overdue to be replaced.

Let me know some other particulars about the voltage, tested with car off battery connected and disconnected, engine running, overnight before starting the car while connected.