buckg2

I just replaced my Die-Hard after only two years of sevice, it would not hold a charge for more than a couple of days. With everything shut off in the car, when i was attaching the negative cable there were a few mid-sized sparks and a clicking sound that I believe was coming from under the pass side head light. Any ideas? thanks

hotwheels57

The clicking sound is probably just some relays being re-energized. The minor sparking isn't a concern...was your car door open or the hood light harness still connected and the light coming on?

DeeGee

Is it working OK now? If so, monitor the voltage with a multi meter and make sure you dont have a drain thats killing the battery.

buckg2

Doors were shut and hood light was unpluged. I will have check the draw with a volt meter. The car seems to be staying charged now but I think if a relay is staying open, thats whats effecting the longevity of my batteries. I'm on my third Die-Hard in for 3 years, and the lady at Sears doesn't like me anymore

yelovette

Don't what it was but mine did the same thing, I believe I just cycled the key, No problems since. With 7 hot rods I should buy stock in a battery company, I believe if I just drove them more this wouldn't be an issue. Also doesn't seem to be a brand thing either, I've tried Optima to Die-hard some are better than others but again it doesn't seem to be one brand or the other.

lucky131969

Normal.

Bill Curlee

You should conduct a BATTERY CURRENT DRAW TEST!

Your car is designed to be able to easily sit idle for in excess of 30 days without damage to the battery. The BCM is designed to go into the SLEEP mode after a specific period of time of system inactivity (approx 10-12 min)

After that period of time, the BCM turns off all the nonessential systems and the battery CURRENT draw should drop down to 20-25 milliamps.

Insert a 0-10 Amp, DC AMP Meter in series between the NEGATIVE BATTERY TERMINAL & The NEGATIVE BATTERY CABLE.

The initial draw will be around 8 amps. Then you will see it go to 2 amps and then settle out to the minimum draw. Hopefully is around 20 MILLIAMPS. If not, you have a system load that is not dropping off line /turning off in the sleep mode and you will need to isolate to prevent premature battery discharge/damage.










BC

Rocket1999

I did not hear what the clicking noise was.
I don't mean to hijack Buckg2 thread, but I to am attempting to trouble shoot battery drain in my 99 coupe and also getting clicking sound when testing. When the amp meter is hooked up I get continous clicking noise coming from the area between the battery and the passinger headlight. The amps are jumping 1.6 to 2.
Does anyone know what this might be and how to stop it so I can start the troubleshooting?
It goes away when you disconnect the amp meter. You might hear it click once when you are reconnecting the negative battery cable but it stops after one click.

Bill Curlee

When the battery is initially connected, several HOT at ALL Times circuits come alive. Some of them draw several amps. On is the headlight motors. The headlight control module is a current sensing module. When you turn it back on. theres NO current draw so it thinks the headlights are out of position and it attempts to reposition them. When it senses the motors at max positioning current, it turns them off.

To get the actual current draw, you MUST allow the BCM to shed all the load and then go into the sleep / security mode. That takes 10-12 min... If you disturb the process,,,,,, its starts over again.

BC

jimuny

Listen to BC, I have experienced the same thing, it takes a long time for the load to drop off....15 minutes may seem like an eternity, but the clicking will stop. In the future when I put my car in storage for the winter, I disconnect the battery AND keep a low amp battery maintainer plugged in. Had a battery now for 5 years, no problem. Without doing this every spring I had a dead battery.
jimuny

Bill Curlee

jimuny

Thanks for the complement.

If you do disconnect the battery and use something to make sure it says charged,, MAKE SURE that you use a dedicated BATTERY MAINTAINER specifically designed to MAINTAIN the charge on the battery and NOT charge it. If you leave a battery CHARGER (even a 2 amp one) on a battery for an extended length of time (months) it will boil the acid out and warp the plates.

One of the BEST battery maintainers on the market is the CTECK unit.

Rocket1999

Thanks Bill, I was gald to hear your input. The clicking by the front passenger headlight did not stop, I waited over two hours. So what I did was leave the amp meter hooked up to measure current draw, unplug the electrical connector up by the light, and then plug it back in, and no more clicking. Odd???

This clicking only happened when the amp meter was hooked up to measure battery current, i.e. no clicking when battery hooked up normally. But now I know how to stop the clicking with an amp meter hooked up.

Waited 15 minutes for sleep mode, and amps went down to 25ma. So I'm back to the drawing board on why battery keeps going dead. Its a new battery and been checked and passed on all tests by Advanced Auto Parts store. Have you hear of cases where battery drain only happens sometimes?

buckg2

I did not get a chance to hook up the amp meter, but after installing the brand new battery four days ago I went out to start the car and the battery is dead. It's on the charger now and I will start to trouble shoot tomorrow. So anyone have any ideas where to start? Is this clicking sound under the head light normal?

Bill Curlee

Sounds like your HEADLIGHT CONTROL MODULE is going bad. Under the passengers headlight and mounted on the frame front header bar is the control module. Feel it. If it warm, it BAD!

Somehow You didn't have any current draw at the time of measurement. REMEASURE the current draw. The headlight motor is either trying to reposition its self because the control module is bad OR the motor drive gear is bad and does not allow the headlight to stay in the down position causing the head light control module to continuously work.

You have to figure that out!

BC

buckg2

Bill I think your on to something. I still havent had time to work on this but when I first hooked up the charger on the new battery the headlights came up for no reason (switch was NOT on).

buckg2

So I'm still getting battery drain. I've set up the amp meter and after waiting 15-30 mins I'm still getting around .78 of draw. One thing that is constant is that when I take the negative cable on and off, I get what seems to be the head light control module clicking. Is this normal? It happens every time. It was stated that if it's hot, It's bad but it doesn't fell warm to the touch.

lucky131969

yes

Rocket1999

Easy way to check the head light control module to see if it's the problem is just unplug it and see if the amps drop. Its an easy unplug as the connector is right up by the headlight. Just remember to plug it back in after you pull it apart, and check what happens to the amps then also.

Good luck.

Bill Curlee

yes normal!

buckg2

Still chasing this thing, I just haven't had much time to work on it. This morning after the 20 min wait I was still showing .80 amps. I got everything turned of in the car, dome lights, hvac controls, gauges, ect. I pulled fuse # 4 on the inside (SCM-L) and it dropped me to .08. What is this fuse? Also #30 and #34 DCM-R and L made the voltage drop.