Car ran fine yesterday, started up great, and there was no noticeable laboring in turning over.

This morning I go out to start her up and all I get is click, click, click, click, click.... The gauges do their sweep and I have a little juice going to the clock and what not (the clock did reset itself back to 1:00 though, which I thought was weird, I thought it would go to 12:00).

Initially, I thought it was the battery. So I open the hood and see that the battery was replaced last March (I purchased the car in August). Batteries certainly should last longer than 9 months. Terminals appear to be on secure and no leaking is visible.

I went and picked up my wifes car (2000 VW Beetle) and tried to jump it just by myself, and nothing. Just the same click, click, click, but it was getting weaker until finally it was just all dead. I also had this clicking noise coming from the fuse box on the passenger side, and it continued to click even after I removed the key (the hood was up and the light on the hood was on but that was it...and it continued to click).

Can anyone please help me with this? I'm not that car savy, but I'm not an idiot either. Could it be the starter? Granted I would have thought that if something was going to go bad it just wouldn't up and die. Like I said, it ran like a champ yesterday.

Thanks in advance I really appreciate it.

Scott

 

sounds like the battery tanked.

 

A while back I walked up the car, hit the key fob, door unlocked, I get in, set down put the key in ignition and the seat moves up, I turn the key and engine starts to turn over to the point I heard the exhaust and then………. Nothing! I open the hood and hear the same ticking as you described. I got the jumper cables and hooked them up…….. Nothing! I then called the flatbed to come haul it to the dealer. Problem? Battery!
I work where we use a lot of batteries and my supplier said what had happened the battery shorted out internally and trying to jump it off is useless!

 

i'd guess battery......

 

May be your starter relay in the engine bay fuse box ( in front of the battery) $15 and you are good. I dont remember if I was getting a click or nothing at all. I went and tapped on it a little and the car started.

 

Sounds exactly like what happened to mine about a month ago.
Ended up being the battery.

 

Same problem occured 1 month after new battery. It ended up being a loose battery cable.

 

My 98 was doing this last week and it turned out to be a loose connection at the starter solenoid. The bolt was a little fried, too. cleaned it with a wire brush, stuck on a washer, and put it back together, works great now.

a few months ago, thought, it left me stranded in St. Louis, and it turned out to be the battery (internally shorted, same symptoms), but since the battery was purchased by the P.O. back in 2000, I figured it had a good run and I replaced it with an Optima.
But it still continued with the not-starting thing, until last week.

 

Yep, it was a dead battery, and lo and behold I was the culprit. I left the dome light on 2 nights ago while looking in my car for my phone. I was able to jump it and its running great now.

However, I do have another question. Since all of that happened some of my controls have been acting squirrely. Not driving controls or anything serious, but like my seat controls and memory seetings. I apologize, this might be something covered in the manual, but I was never given a manual from the previous owner, so I am left with the wealth of knowledge from this forum....which is better than any manual I've ever read.

Symptoms I've noticed after the battery went dead and was jumped:

1. On the DIC in the OPTIONS I can no longer change the auto lock feature - you know, how you can change it to unlock driver / passenger / both . . . that sort of thing. I can't change any of it. It just says "auto unlock"

2. I cannot change the EASY SEAT ENTRY from the DIC in the OPTIONS either. It's locked up.

3. Power window buttons do not work or the memory setting buttons, but the unlock buttons do.

{EDIT}
4. When I hit my key fob to lock the car it doesn't do anything but flash my lights like 4 times and then stop. If I locked the car from the inside it will not unlock my car. I have to use my key. I dont get it?

Can anyone tell me whats going on here? Is there a reset button or something? I really appreciate any help.

Thanks,
Scott

 

ttt

I am at a loss, can anyone please help me out?

 

was the car jumped with 24 volts?[tow truck].is the battery fully chrged right now?if the battery was jumped with 24 volts,look for blown fuses.just a thought

 

The battery was jumped by a 2005 Silverado (my brothers). The battery appears to be fully charged (running around 13.8-14.0 amps - when I first got it jumped it was around 12.9 and after driving it for about 45 minutes after I jumped it, it climbed to the 13.8 mark.

Could it be a fuse? What's weird is that I just drove it and the same thing was happening as stated in the above post. The cars door locks would not engage (lock) after I got up to the 12 or 15 mph range like they normally do, then all of a sudden they do when I was going around 45mph. What's also weird is that driving last night after I got it jumped, the lights that illuminate the door control (windoww, door locks, memory setting etc) were not on and then all of a sudden they were?

I'd hate to take it in, because it'll probably be one of those deals where it will decide to do as it's supposed to and have no problems.

Thanks for the replies, I still would appreciate anyone's insight into this.

Thanks.

 

Its funny how these things come up. I *JUST* had the same problem yesterday.

I didn't drive the car all weekend. On Saturday, the alarm went off by itself. I thought it weird, but dismissed.

Then yesterday, I go out to start up and it is dead as hell. No lights, no thing. I get a jump start, but it still won't crank....just a fast clicking sound. All lights worked.

Furthermore, there was a strange static sounding noice coming from the fuse box. Weird.

Had it towed to the dealer. I suspected something wrong with the alarm system. Turns out it was a bad battery.

They replaced it on warranty, as the car is an '04. Still think its weird though...a battery just shouldn't go dead like that. And the alarm thing is also weird.

greg

 

I had the same thing happen yesterday. Stopped at the store, went in came out, car wont start. Checked the cables, the ground was loose a little so I just rotated it a bit at the post (Optima Red Top) and the car started. I also heard a weird noise from the passenger side, didn't dawn on me it was coming from the fuse box till I just read that. When I went to drive away it did the "Service ABS, TC, ETC... REDUCED POWER", wouldn't go faster than 5 mph. I just cleared the codes and drove home and tightened the cable. All was fine, drove to work.

This morning my wife drove it in the morning, I picked it up an hour or so later, started fine, but I got "Service ABS, TC, ETC... REDUCED POWER" again. Again I cleared the codes and drove to work. Today when I left car started and ran fine.....