Click,Click, Click - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

ghost111 · 08-30-2011, 07:37 PM

1999 camry 3.0
Went to start the car this AM got rapid clicking. Checked the battery terminals and one was lose and the other was dirty. Cleaned them and etc. Got the car started and did a bunch of errands, came home and parked it for 6 hrs. Now its click click click rapidly. Again. Seems like the battery can't hold a charge. maybe a dead soldier? Any other clues.???? Thanks

dc_98_cam · 08-30-2011, 07:43 PM

... Read someplace that a car battery is only designed to use 20% of its electrical storage capacity. So if you allowed the battery to go completely dead, that might have caused it to have some sort of damage to the plates, or chemistry. Best thing to do is to remove the battery and have it checked at a qualified store or repair facility.

bigbird · 08-30-2011, 08:15 PM

your battery is likely toast. Bad connections can cause damage to the batter itself as well as damage caused by improper charging. Unless it's new, just replace it and go from there.

oopssorryy · 08-30-2011, 08:22 PM

Go in to your local car place (not sure if I can mention store names) pull your Battery, Alternator and have them load tested. If they both test out fine get new battery connections. I actually just did this last week and my connections were bad.

Chris Crash · 08-30-2011, 09:26 PM

I had the same symptoms, turned out the positive terminal connector was split in half on the inside.

bolink654 · 08-30-2011, 10:47 PM

Quote:

I had the same symptoms, turned out the positive terminal connector was split in half on the inside.

Yup, them stock terminal clamps will fall in half after awhile even in the south. Mine did it about 20-30k ago, and the stock cable was just a bit too short to just put a new clamp on it, and I was away from home. I got tricky... put a "top post mount to side screw mount" adapter on it, and then I put a "side screw mount to top post mount" adapter on THAT and then put a new clamp on it. The 2 adapters gave me the length I needed.

Then of course I put a new cable (with a brass clamp) on it when I got home were I had proper tools.

I'd bet on either that, or bad battery. Sometimes they have enough life left to make it click, but not to do much else.

Check that clamp first. If its good have the battery and alternator tested. Free at Autozone and the likes.

ghost111 · 08-31-2011, 09:31 AM

Thanks guys. It was the battery. Went to Advance and they wanted $90.00+ so I went over to ELECTRO battery and got the same unit [Blem] for $40.00.

carpetguy00 · 09-03-2011, 04:08 PM

every time you discharge a battery fully, or even near fully, you take some of its life away. in my old durango, i had a power drain i couldnt find. and a new battery. it was almost fully discharged maybe 6 or 7 times and was toast. and it was a 6 month old superstart maxx (or something similar.... not a cheap battery!)

its like running your car very low on oil. every time that happens you bastardize your engine. same for batteries.

***TrailDust*** · 09-03-2011, 05:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by carpetguy00

every time you discharge a battery fully, or even near fully, you take some of its life away. in my old durango, i had a power drain i couldnt find. and a new battery. it was almost fully discharged maybe 6 or 7 times and was toast. and it was a 6 month old superstart maxx (or something similar.... not a cheap battery!)

its like running your car very low on oil. every time that happens you bastardize your engine. same for batteries.

Agree completely with that. I'd also add that when it comes to batteries, once your battery reaches five years of age go ahead and replace it. I don't give a crap about the stories you hear of a battery lasting this long or that long, by the time you reach five years most of your battery life is used up and you're literally running on borrowed time. There's seldom a convenient time for your battery to fail, so it's better to stick a crowbar in your wallet and get a new battery when five years is up.

ajkalian · 09-03-2011, 08:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TrailDust

Agree completely with that. I'd also add that when it comes to batteries, once your battery reaches five years of age go ahead and replace it. I don't give a crap about the stories you hear of a battery lasting this long or that long, by the time you reach five years most of your battery life is used up and you're literally running on borrowed time. There's seldom a convenient time for your battery to fail, so it's better to stick a crowbar in your wallet and get a new battery when five years is up.

The old "crowbar in the wallet" routine, eh?

Before you stick that crowbar in your wallet, stick one of these in your battery. This hydrometer costs under $5.00 and will give you a quick, and accurate visual check of the state of your battery. This is a high quality part, glass tube, glass floater thingie, easy to read. I think for the money, it's the best ones out there.

Another way you know your battery is about to die, is that if you start losing the radio station presets in the morning after the car sits overnight. Even though the car will start, the battery is on it's way out.

http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/de...rs+%26+testers

'

***fenixus*** · 09-04-2011, 01:33 AM

my way easy test for the battery is to leave car shut down in parking lot with lights on and radio on for 15-20 minutes. if it can't start back up later then I go shopping for a new battery.
I wouldn't want to have a battery older than 5 years, it's too much hassle if you get accidentally stranded by it far away from home.

get a battery with long (e.g. 8 years) prorated warranty, if you get to replacing it at 5yrs then you receive a credit (prorated) towards a purchase of a new one.

both Duralast Gold (Autozone) and Autocraft Gold (Advance Auto Parts) seem like nice option with 3yrs replacement and 8yrs pro-rated warranties.