On a '98 C5 coupe what would cause it to kill all the power and just tick! tick! tick! like crazy from somewhere around the right front headlight?

I have an Optima battery and a CTek battery tender that has an 'Optima battery setting' on it.
For 2-3 years now it all has worked great.

Days ago I heard the tick! tick! ticking! and thought it was just the CTek battery tender doing its thing. But usually when it comes on and recharges the battery it goes from a 'red' light to a 'green' light (fully charged) within several hours.

Today however I heard it still ticking and it was still in the red light recharging mode!
(It could have been doing this for quite some time, as we have either been buried in snow or in the deep-freeze for months now and car hasn't been used since November. I haven't really stopped for long to notice any ticking before passing through the back of the garage where the C5 is stored. The garage is heated to 50-55º all winter.)

I took car cover off to see what was going on... I unplugged the CTek from the wall... raised the hood and there was NO underhood light... I disconnected the CTek from the battery and the C5 just kept tick! tick! ticking! on it's own!!
The car doors were locked with my key in the ignition (my 2nd set of keys in the house)... after manually unlocking door there were no lights inside the car and turning the ignition key --it was dead!

And the car is still ticking!!

I don't get it? Anybody know what's going on here?

Thanks as always!

 

check fuses and relays... usually relays can cause a ticking noise when battery is dead.


Pull codes yet?

 

...well if it was talk, talk, talking from the right side, I would say it is the wife?

Sounds like a bad battery or battery connection to me. Make sure the terminals are torqued to 11-ft-lbs. If battery checks good and terminals are tight, I would check grounds next.

 

the wife!!!!!! LOL!!!!

 

Check your red top- mine only lasted 2 years - big ripoff as far as I'm concerned. Went back to standard batt and now all is well! (And both batts always had a trickle charger (Ctek) on.

 

I read a post a while back about a grounding point on the right side just off the headlight do a search. I do not remember just where it is. I think it had something to do with the battery.

 

If the battery gets too low there is a relay under the drivers side dash that will do this, and sometimes you will also see the Security light flashing with it. I am surprised tht it is doing this with the Ctek on it - I would have thought the Ctek would give it enough power to keep this from happening, but it must mean that your battery has a short in it.

 

I am not familiar with the codes related to the fuses or relays. Where would I find them?

 

You should start by reading your owners manual.

http://www.c5forum.com/ayc/dtcdic.php

 

Yep! Optima RedTop was belly up after only 2yrs!
But Corvette mechanic at local Chevrolet dealership said it very well could all be caused by the "headlight actuator"? ..which is saying it wants to keep raising the recessed headlight, even though the car is off.
Says when they go 'bad' they will kill batteries.
Anyone else hear of this problem with C5's?

 

If your battery is dead the only codes you'd get would be low voltage codes. And if the battery is dead you will not be able to pull the codes anyway, so I would not waste my time, under the circumstances. Take your battery to an auto parts store and they can test it for you.

 

Had the same problem there was some corrosion on the terminals

 

same thing happened to me - i had a 2 month old battery that (as it turns out) went dead - actually had a dead short in it and read 0 amps. replaced the battery and everything is golden!