'02 main battery clicking!

I haven't seen anyone talking about a clicking main battery. Here's my story. I have an '02 - and was out of town for a month, and left the car sitting, unfortunately in the middle of the biggest heat wave to hit the area in a long time, and it was in the sun. Got back, got a turtle on the dash, and the SOC jumps around. Soon followed by that lovely warning triangle and a failed main battery.

I got a battery out of a junked car, swapped it out easily enough. Try and start car - get a clicking sound, and no display on the screen.

I pull that battery, strip off the cover (should have done that before putting it in in the first place) and the cells are shot - one half was 2V, the other was 30V! Needless to say, I got my money back.

I went into my old battery, and it turns out I had a single cell that was 6 resting, and 5 something under load. Every other cell was right around 7.7, and around 7.6 under load. Outer cells were higher...

Anyway, I got a replacement cell, 7.4 resting, and swapped out my bad one. Put the battery in the car, and the same thing happens - clicking sound (relay near battery computer?) and no display on the screen.

Is there something I am doing wrong? Do I need to reset a code or something, or a reset switch I failed to hit internal to the battery?

Any thoughts?

David

 

Ok. So here's an update on the mystery. I disconnected the 12v battery 2 more times over the course of a day (back in the winter of 08 I'd lost the 12v battery and when I hooked it up again, it gave me the dreaded triangle, but upon unconnecting, and reconnecting a few times, it went away). I don't know much about these things, but I have heard that some of the semi-persistent engine codes will last 3 cycles and then go away if they aren't sensed again. So now, no warning triangle, and the car runs fine, good amount of pep, no turtle, reverse works fine. But....

I still get that click from the relay in the end of the main battery. And my display is still dark, although my speedometer is working. AC works, but radio, part of the head unit, isn't. Lights, wipers, blower, that all works. I'm poring over the wiring diagrams to see if there's a fuse blown somewhere. I just read that there's a main body relay in the battery though, and I'm also wondering if I just never noticed the relay click before when starting, and it's normal.

I'll post if I get it figured out- these wiring diagrams are not easy.... I may not actually need an instrument if the main battery is working, although it would probably be the rental if my battery gives me a triangle again.

Thanks so much for responding, Bob, you're obviously the man. Your advice on testing cells in other posts gave me the confidence to dive in!

 

Oh, it just gets better!

So I see that the dome light is also on the same circuit. Hmm. Could that be the dome light that I pulled out perhaps not too carefully when I was looking for a 12v bulb to do the load test? It isn't working? Ahhh.

But do I get to find out if that fuse does it? Nope, we had a little stop sign bump a couple months back, and it doesn't appear from the outside that the car is damaged at all, but the hood latch doesn't release.

I will keep you guys updated when I finally figure out how to open the hood on the car - I know right where the blown fuse is. In the meantime, I think I'm ok on the battery.

Thanks again.

 

Well, the status panel is up and running - turns out there was no accident damage to the hood latch - just the aluminum bumper bar, but the cable had figured out a way off the little hook in the latch (no idea how that happened). A bit of a scraped arm later to reach up and remove the bolts that hold the latch on, and I've got an open hood, a replaced fuse, and a working vehicle. Time to button everything up and take a decent test drive...

My guess is that the one cell I replaced, which wasn't getting up past 6 volts, was pulling the pack out of balance. It was funny, on the energy management screen, the battery level would look low, then it would show it charging, and the level would come up to full, then just as it got there, it would fall down to the same level again, and the turtle and warning lights would come on. I know that animation is mainly eye candy, not an accurate gauge, but that's what it was showing. Maybe a shorted cell internal to that module?

I've got my fingers crossed - I was about to drop 1700 on a re-involt from NC, but instead got off for about 20 bucks in gas total. I feel at the moment like I did win the lottery. Plus I got to know the bus routes in my town, and that they all have bike racks, and the nice bike paths running downtown. Plus I got plenty of exercise for a week of commute. And to top it off, I know tons more about hybrid batteries. WIN WIN.

 

Oh, and if I win the lottery, I'm going full electric, maybe Leaf or Tesla coupe.

BTW, do you hear a clicking from those relays in the main battery when you start up in your gen I? Was I just not remembering?