TerryL

The door opened ok, sat down pressed the brake and starter button as usual and heard one clunk. Dash lights flickered, gauges ran their startup cycle, headlights came on etc, and after repeated attempts, it said fob not detected. Got the other fob which was detected but still wouldn't start it. Batteries are new. Just a week ago it wouldn't start so I replaced both batteries. Worked fine since. Tonight I noticed the driver door window get lower and lower as I tried everything and it won't go back up. Tried the fob in the glovebox with no start, both fobs no start. It recognized the 2nd fob but still wouldn't do anything. Now not even a click. Open the hood and the light is dim. Put a load test on the battery and it says to replace. Removed the Pos cable and cleaned the terminal and the cable end. Only had a bit of white residue. Otherwise a perfectly clean 600CC AAA battery at least a couple years old. Replaced the cable and still nothing. Hooked a battery tender to it and now the under hood light starts flickering from dim to dimmer and a clicking sound gets louder. It's coming from the large relay? box in front of the battery and the clicking is coming from the middle large square unit on the motor side of the box (there are three in a row). Removed it, clicking stopped. Replaced it and the clicking began again. Also noticed the lights on the start button are also flickering to coincide with the clicking and dimming of the under hood light. Read the fob threads and nothing quite fits my dilemma. Any clues? It's my only four wheel vehicle. Would hate to buy another battery if it's something else. Went out later to look at it. I'd removed the tender earlier due to the clicking and flickering lights. Now there is no hood light and the starter button's light is flickering.

DAS ZED

Push the ignition off button to stop the clicking. Turn off the headlights if they are on. Your battery tender doesn't have the capacity to charge the battery with this load. I would start by measuring the battery voltage (with the battery tender disconnected). You can try using the battery tender, but you may need a bigger charger to get the battery voltage back up to 12.6 volts (minimum).

Seadawg

Most battery replacement places will "load test" your battery for free, that's the only real way to tell how good your battery is.

They measure the voltage drop with a controlled resistive load on the battery.

As far as car battery life, they usually don't fail in 2 years, but they can......

You should be seeing high 13's, low 14's volts on your DIC, once you get it started with your current weak battery too. It will eventually drop to the mid 12's while going down the highway, once the battery is fully charged. If your battery is good, and the voltages on the DIC are not in those ranges, you could have charging system issues.

mickey5

A battery tender is not a charger. If its that discharged borrow one that puts out at least 6 Amps. Either your battery is ready for a replacement or your alternator isn't putting out 14+ volts. Both are easily checked at an auto store usually as a courtesy and no charge. Good luck.