Car not starting. Clicking noise.

[thehuman]

Meusure voltage while trying to start
If car starts and run meusure voltage at idle and when reving car
14.6 sounds bit on high side

 

[Fazda]

What you are describing is a flat battery - the fact that it's a new one means sweet blow all - we tended to replace 2 new batteries on new cars on the floor every month. Take it to Battery Centre and have it correctly diagnosed, as every person here is going to come up with a different possibility.

 

[midnightcaller]

My guess is that the battery doesn't have enough oomph to start motor.

 

[ahoudet]

My car started doing this, coupled with all sorts of other weird symptoms (inc central locking refusing to lock, dashboard lights pulsing). After the car was towed in to a dealership they simply diagnosed it as a new battery being needed ... R1 200 later, perfectly working car again.

I've always had a sneaking suspicion the dealership lied and were actually covering up some other fault, because I've never seen a flat battery affect a car like that before, but then again the last time I had a flat battery it was on an old 1990s Toyota Conquest

Very possible... Merc GLA was throwing 4MATIC faults when the battery died. Those all cleared once it was charged up but the MIL stayed on. I had to clear it using my scanner

 

[bromster]

What you are describing is a flat battery - the fact that it's a new one means sweet blow all - we tended to replace 2 new batteries on new cars on the floor every month. Take it to Battery Centre and have it correctly diagnosed, as every person here is going to come up with a different possibility.

Thanks. Will test it in the morning. It is strange that it was working 100% yesterday though. Guess that's cars for you.

My guess is that the battery doesn't have enough oomph to start motor.

 

[Fazda]

Thanks. Will test it in the morning. It is strange that it was working 100% yesterday though. Guess that's cars for you.

I have started a car for someone at 10 in the morning, and had a series of clicks at 1 pm - that's what batteries do, they die.

 

[Edelweiss]

That's why I prefer older cars to newer ones. Much simpler and easy to DIY. Also way cheaper to maintain and fix! None of this diagnostic ECU ***. Breeding a generation of pansies.

 

[Sinbad]

Battery is shot, guaranteed.

 

[Gunner182]

+1 on the battery being kla. Everything else might work ie lights, radio, but not enough power to get the car going.

 

[Sodan]

Sounds like a typical weak battery issue. Had the same "clicking" sound when starting on my GWM bakkie. Was also a new(ish) battery, but even the little green light showing battery strength was dark. Charging it from my tazz brought the battery up a bit, but quite slowly, and not by a lot (from 10.x V to ~12V).
I bought a battery charger (decent one, ~R400) and charged the battery up to 13.2V, and then it started fine. Soon thereafter my uncle found and fixed the root cause: alternator was loose, not charging the battery.

 

[bromster]

Just tried another jump to no avail.

Battery shows 12.6v. When I turn the key and it is clicking, the battery voltage drops to between 10.6 and 11.4. When I stop, it climbs back to 12.4.

So I push started it again. Car runs fine. Voltage across battery is then stable at 14.4V. When I rev the car up, the voltage remains at 14.4V (regulated I guess)

Will switch batteries in the morning. Thanks for the feedback.

 

[Sinbad]

Remember when you jump start you probably don't get enough current down the jumper cables to actually crank your engine. Connect the cables and keep the donor car running at 2000rpm for a few minutes and then try starting.

 

[thehuman]

Remember when you jump start you probably don't get enough current down the jumper cables to actually crank your engine. Connect the cables and keep the donor car running at 2000rpm for a few minutes and then try starting.

Upgraded our jumper cables with some welding cables
Get battery charged
Get it tested at a battery place

 

[Sinbad]

Upgraded our jumper cables with some welding cables
Get battery charged
Get it tested at a battery place

I think it's more about the contact area of the crocodile clips. Generally it's tiny.

 

[Edelweiss]

I think it's more about the contact area of the crocodile clips. Generally it's tiny.

Also ensure that that the cables to the terminals are tightened properly! Makes the worlds difference!

 

[Drifter]

Could be your earth.

 

[Hemi300c]

Solenoid sounds like. Take hammer and tap starter when this happens. It might be the starter gets stuck and this sometimes helps it losen. Could be connections are lose or corroded.

 

[krycor]

Battery doesnt have enough charge to start car.. My money is on the new radio/sound system drawing current when the car is off causing the battery to be too flat to start car especially if the batter was fine prior to the new sound system or of similar size as the one replaced.

I've seen post mods wherein the radio is connected directly such that it works when the ignition is off.. cool.. but if it has an amp etc and they dont turn off properly its like leaving your car lights on

 

[Archer]

So much bad advice here... Nothing is certain, but some things are more probable than others.

Clicking sound suggests dead battery - the relay engages and as soon as it does the starter tries to pull the amps it needs, which pulls the voltage below the threshold for the relay to energise, relay circuit opens, voltage rises and the sequence continues. And yes, I have experienced a battery so flat that jumping did not work mostly because the jumpers were not making good contact, tried again later with better contact and it was fine. I do recall as well that I left it connected for a good minute the second time.

 

[Colin62]

I agree with Arthur.

Both that there is some bad advice here, and that it's most likely to be the battery, although a poor connection is also a possibility, especially with the jump starting not working. Having said that, the battery voltage would not drop to 10V if there was a bad connection, it would remain around 12V, so on the balance, I'm going with the battery.

The most effective way to use jump start cables is not to run the full starting current through them to drive the starter motor with the donor car's battery, but to use the charging system on the donor car to push some charge into the flat battery so that it provides most of the current to start the car, with the donor car topping that up.