General LSX Automobile Discussion - Car dead: how good are you guys?

2001 WS6 TA: spliced wires to fix driver front turn signal. It worked fine. then removed horns to see why sounded girly. Low horn tested by using in car battery terminals to horn leads. No horn so assumed bad horn. reconnected high horn without low horn connected. pushed horn button, and it sounded like a sick cow (all with ignition turned to on position).

Got in car, depressed clutch, and turned key to on....rapid clicking noise heard, like morse code, but had not turned to start yet (and sounds different than dead battery sound). 'no seatbelt' light and maint req. light blinking quickly in dash along with clicking sound. Turned key to start, and nothing happened. heard strange clicking in area of under hood fuse box. Can feel the BIG ignition square fuse clicking even when not turning key to start but left in on position.

Did this a few times. Now, turning key to on (not start) there are no dash lights, radio doesn't work, pwr locks very slow, map lights will also blink dimly along with clicking sound. IF I get out of car with key to off or ACC, the warning chime will sound normally and alarm light in defrost blinks normally. Also, if put in ACC position, all gauges will uniformly rotate to max, then back to zero once. Turn key to on, and nothing, except the clicking of the IGN fuse under hood. All other viewable fuses are not burnt.

WTH?? I worked on horn and turn signal light and now car is dead. During work, I heard no click, spark, pop or any sign I had shorted something out. What are your thoughts? Can I test the big boxy fuses somehow? Did I fry my computer somehow?

Thanks for your time :hail:

I had almost the exact same thing happen to me. I stopped at the gas station on the way to work. When I got back in my car & turned the key I had the same rapid clicking & clicking noise coming from the fusebox area.

I left it there for the day & came back to start troubleshooting. I changed out the two relays with no luck. I started checking every fuse that could affect the car starting but still no luck.

Finally I tried jumpstarting my car & it took about ten minutes but finally I got it started. I drove it home & it ran fine. After I shut it off it had the same original problem & wouldn't start.

I assumed it was the ignition switch or starter. But ironically it was a fried battery. The battery was seven years old & always worked perfectly. The symptoms didn't sound like they were from a dead battery but that's what it turned out to be. After I changed the battery out it ran perfectly & has the past couple of weeks.

You might see if you can get your car jumpstarted. If so get your battery checked. Hopefully that will work for you too. Good luck.

Thanks for the info. Battery believed to be 2 or 3 yrs old, but I could be crazy and its 4.

New symptom: left battery disconnected for 2 hours to 'reset'. Went to start=nothing except rapid clicking which is now coming from a box like thing behind the glove box. Even with keys removed, the map lights and alarm light in defrost grill blink rapidly with clicking sound coming from said box behind glove box (not the computer chip in engine compartment). Had to disconnect battery to get it to stop??

I'll try a new battery, but this is REALLY strange.

Thanks again, especially since I'm a PSU fan ;-)

Wow, tough year to be a Penn State fan.

You should try to jump the car or atleast get the battery tested before you go ahead & replace it. I hate to tell you to throw money away since it may or may not fix the problem. Things like this really suck because it's tough to pinpoint exactly what's wrong. I always start with the cheapest stuff & go from there.

Anyways good luck man.

Thanks again, and I concur. Will start with the jump and battery test first (cheap stuff). If it works, I'll report back. Otherwise, I will when/if cure is found.

PS sorry, until I looked at your profile, I was thinking Ohio State for OSU. OK ST good to go, not that I'm a buckeye hater in any way. Have a great weekend!

Sounds like a bad battery...

You could have a bad alternator, which may have killed your battery.

Well, it was just a bad battery. I've NEVER seen a car behave like that just from a bad battery. Wife's car immediately jump started it, Auto Parts store confirmed good alternator and bad battery (battery read 15.6 volts while problem was on-going!). I'm not complaining as the cheap fix worked, but I'm still amazed at how there was no simple selenoid click, the car was possessed!

Thanks to all who offered their advice. Have a great weekend. God bless our Vets!