Replacing a Car Battery and Dealing with Corroded Terminals on a 2006 Toyota Matrix

[@ALCRAN2010]

Great tip there at the very end! Thanks

[@Amarikita]

Thank you. Very well explained. My problem is the battery hold down rod. It hooks around the baseplate of the battery but every time I tighten down the nut it slips off. Really stupid design by Toyota if you ask me. Any advice on that ?

[@TheFixitShed]

Is there a way you can keep upward tension on the rod so that it doesn't unhook while tightening the nut? Or can you bend the hook on the bottom of the rod so that it is less likely to slip out?

[@Amarikita]

@@TheFixitShed Thanks for answering. Tension while tightening will work until you need to really tighten the nut down and then the rod will slip off. Tried bending the rod beyond 90 degrees to give it more "bite" but it is almost impossible with pliers or even a hammer. I'll have to use a stronger method. But that's about the only solution in my opinion.

[@ShieldandBucklerMusic]

I bought one on Amazon that works better than the stock one.

[@jacksonrelaxin3425]

It’s important to remember that you’re idle speed will also reset every time you disconnect the battery on these types of Toyotas. It’s a real pain in the ass to reset too which I feel like it was deliberately designed to get more people to take their cars into the dealership mechanics.

[@TheFixitShed]

Interesting. I didn't have a problem with my idle afterwards. You could get a memory saver that plugs into the OBD II port. they are under $20 on Amazon