Ant-Man

Alright so a few days ago I moved my car into my shop to dip the tires and put them back on, alright so something came up and I needed to move her out and put my truck in. I go to start her up and off the bat I notice that the lights were flashing on the dash when I turned the key, and when I turned to start her up all I hear is clicking from the driver's side and the lights flashing all over the place.


First thing I thought was the battery, so I tried to jump the car with no luck.

After that I tested the head lights and stuff and they blinked when I turned them on, like a timed blink not a 'im dying' blink.

Alright so going on I google'd it a bit and tried unplugging the battery for a while(20mins), didn't do anything. Also I tried with both my keys.


So now my keys' remote won't do anything, the windows wont roll up, headlights no longer turn on, door locks don't work and she just sits there clicking when I try and start her. I'm at a loss because I don't have the money to tow her, she was supposed to sit there for 8 months but now I'm finding out before I even leave that she's not working properly.

Edit: Also the initial clicking was in 2 tones: a high-speed from the center of the vehicle, and the second was a slower deeper click from the driver's side.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?fv=WwL8OELblm4

aaquib1992

Sounds like it could be one (or more) of a few things. First thing that comes to mind when electrical issues are mentioned with early S197s is a bad alternator.

If that's not the case then I'd wager it was the infamous water leak, however you say it's been garaged so I find this a bit less likely, unless the water leak damage was done a while ago and is only now surfacing (which is very possible as it might have taken this long for corrosion to set it).

First thing I'd do is check the passenger side footwell/SJB (more like probe with a fine tooth comb) for ANY signs of water damage, etc. Then I'd get that alternator load tested to see if that's the problem.

Nuke

Definitely look into both the battery/charging system as well as the water leak issue but I'd suspect the former before the latter.

Ant-Man

I've always had a cover on her no matter where she was, and the few days I left her in the rain(months ago) she had no signs of water leaks-- I did it on purpose to see if she did.

Again with the battery what should I try with it? I've try to jump it and I was thinking about pulling out one of my dad's old batter chargers and trying that. Also I have a friend who has his own repair shop and he comes over to buy eggs from us so I was going to see about bugging him to take a look at the alternator.

aaquib1992

Yeah then it's probably not the water leak causing this. You could try a new battery, as when my battery died (like winter of '10) these were the EXACT symptoms my car had (no dash lights at all, and just constant clicking while the key was turned)

I must have misread your initial post, as I thought you had already tried a new battery. My apologies, but yes I recommend you try a new battery (especially if you still have the OEM one) then if that doesn't do it I would get the alternator tested (autozone/napa does it for free I believe).

Side note though, when my batt. died, I was able to jump my car and take it to autozone without issue, so the fact that you couldn't jump yours raises my suspicion that it might actually be more than just the battery.

Ant-Man

Alright I'm going in town tomorrow so I'll see about grabbing one.

Also a video of the dash/engine bay if it helps any:

So_Cali

Sounds very familiar, take the battery in to see if it's still any good. Next would be testing the Alternator if it ends up not being the battery. Good luck with this...

kevinmalec

Definitely get the battery tested. When my battery died, it made a clicking noise like that. Are you able to turn your headlights on or turn on the wiper blades? If so, check to see if the head lights are dim and if the wiper blades move really slow. Mine did not work, since my battery was completely dead and had to be replaced out.

legendlime05

the rapid clicking from the engine bay makes me think that its a dead and gone battery.
try it out, lets us know.

Ant-Man

I'd be tanked if it was, because the battery was replaced in june, but I tried it again with jumpers and again no luck.

I videoed the head light flashing when I turn them on though, it doesn't look like 'im dying.' Which makes me again think of all the light that come on in the dash, weird.


At any rate gonna head off to talk to the guys who put my battery in.