Battery replacement for FJ Cruiser. Do it yourself!

Even if I get on the car last month, I can only go nearby. Therefore, the battery has run down. I was a member of JAF, so I called JAF and had him start up. After that, I was careful to ride for a little longer, but one week after, the battery was exhausted again. Once again, I was taken care of by JAF. Finally I thought I should replace the battery, so I’ll keep a record. I hope this will be helpful for those who are thinking of replacing the FJ Cruiser battery.

Sudden battery exhaustion and battery life

At this time, Japan was refraining from going out with COVID-19, and my house keeped it, so going out was just shopping at a nearby supermarket. If you haven’t moved the car for about a month, the battery will go off brilliantly. I was asked how long the battery will be used, and I think that it will be about 7 years since I can not buy it from the beginning of a new car. Recently, the battery is highly functional, but it seems that it suddenly fails, and I was told that if I used it for 7 years, I had it. I think so, too. As expected, it will be replacement time, so I will replace the battery. By the way, I have taken care of JAF 3 times before this exchange. If you are a member, the battery will be exhausted and some other things will be supported for free. You can also request a loading service in the app. I used this feature for the first time, and it was very convenient to know where the service car is now. Recently, the same service is provided as an option for voluntary insurance, but it seems that there are various things such as being late for arrival or not being able to respond on weekends due to circumstances such as contracted factories. In that respect, JAF is specialized in road service 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Personally, if you have not yet joined JAF, I recommend you to join.

Replace the battery myself.

Let’s take a quick look at the battery replacement cost. It seems that it costs nearly 40,000 yen for the battery and the wage when you ask a car accessories store. If you do it yourself, you only pay for the battery. I decided to replace it by myself because it would not cost 40,000 yen with just exchange the battery. (I checked the battery price just in case when I went to AUTOBACS when I was disposing of the battery. The one equivalent to the one I replaced this time was 40,000 yen!

The new battery will be made by Panasonic.

I thought about what to do with a new battery, and recently I saw a Panasonic battery at a car supply store, and because my family like Panasonic products, I made it a Panasonic battery.

Check the battery model number of the FJ Cruiser.

If you go to Panasonic’s car battery page, there is a car battery compatibility search. Select FJ Cruiser here. Then you will know the model number of the battery installed in the new car.

Clicking on this model number will take you to a page that displays compatible models from the current lineup.

By the way, the number in front of the battery model number is the performance rank of the battery, the higher the number, the higher the starting performance and capacity. D indicates the size of the battery, which is the smaller area of the side surface, and represents the width 173 mm and the box height 204 mm. The next 26 indicates the length of the long side, which represents 260 mm. The last L means that the positive terminal is on the left or right, and L indicates the left. There is a reading explanation page in Panasonic.

The new battery is 125D26L.

Now, check the price of the battery online. There is no big difference in price between 125D26L and 100D26L. 80D26L was not found. I decided to use 125D26L because better performance would be better. By the way, the difference between C6 and C7 behind the model number seems to be that C7 has improved liquid reduction suppression performance and a new label design. It was stated on the page of Panasonic that there is no big difference in other performance.

Just in case, I also bought a memory backup.

If you remove the battery when replacing the battery, the memory of the device installed in the car, such as the clock, navigation settings, computer settings, may be cleared. I may need a password to get the navigation back, but now I have no idea where that information is. Also, since it has a security device, if it is cleared, the worst case is that the engine will not start. To avoid that, I will purchase and use a memory backup that will power the memory during battery replacement just in case.

Battery replacement procedure

Required tools are 10 mm spanner and work gloves

The tools required to replace the battery of the FJ Cruiser are 10 mm spanners and work gloves, as they may cause hand injuries and may also get your hands dirty.

The car engine is off and the room lamp is off.

Be sure to turn off the car engine. The electric system inside the car that can be turned on even if the key is removed, such as the room lamp, and if you are using the parking monitoring mode of the drive recorder, turn it off as well.

Remove the battery fixing bracket.

Remove the battery fixing stay with a 10mm spanner. It’s dirty with the battery and dust, sorry. Be careful when working with the bolt hooks in the back, as the cables are obstructive and cannot be seen easily.

Connect the memory backup to the terminal in the order of plus → minus.

Connect the memory backup in the order of the positive terminal and the negative terminal of the battery terminal (metal fitting for connecting to the battery).

Remove the battery terminal in the order of minus → plus.

Remove the battery terminal in the order of minus → plus With the memory backup connected, remove the battery terminal from the battery in the order of minus terminal → plus terminal. At this time, be careful not to touch the positive terminal with the car body. The memory backup (power supply) is connected, which may cause a short circuit. (Because the car body is electrically negative terminal.)

Remove the old battery, put the new battery on, and fix it firmly.

Remove the old battery, place the new battery firmly on the pan, and attach the fixing stay to fix it.

Install the battery terminal in the order of positive → negative.

With the memory backup still connected, connect the battery terminal in the order of positive terminal → negative terminal. The reverse order of removing.

Remove the memory backup in the order of minus → plus.

Remove the memory backup in the order of negative terminal and positive terminal.

Confirm operation and complete replacement work.

After checking that there are no abnormalities with the accessory turned on and starting the engine and confirming that there are no abnormalities also, the battery replacement work is complete.

Waste old batteries.

Old batteries can be disposed if you take it to a car supply store. I took it to AUTOBACS and asked the store clerk to dispose of the battery and asked for it to be taken free of charge.

Summary

I wrote about battery replacement for FJ Cruiser. Work takes about 30 minutes. I hope this will be useful for those who are thinking about trying to replace the battery by themselves.