As many others I too am having a problem with my starter relay clicking but not activating the starter due to low battery current (hooking up to another battery via a jumper cable works instantly). This problem happens intermittantly but always progressively gets worse unless i disconnect the battery when the car is off. I had the problem with the last starter and I bought a new one about a year ago but the problem started up again soon after. I bought a new battery thinking that was bad, but no luck. I got a new key made thinking my old key was just making a bad connection to my VATS but that had no luck.

I thought the problem was definitely my VATS, but when i cranked it one day and it wouldn't start (just click) repeatedly (usually it would start after a few times), eventually the clicking died down and my battery seemed really drained. And the problem hasn't happened since i started removing my battery cable while the car is off. Also, there is an aftermarket security system still hooked up that i've yet been able to get at because i dont have the Torx drivers to get at it. (getting those in a week)

I used a test light but since it isn't the kind that can go inline in the fuse box, I was only able to tell which ones had voltage and which didn't.

Fuses that had a voltage (vats, arc, acc, stop hazard, tail, lid) My door was open and i was not depressing the light switches.

I have to get a hold of a real multimeter to really get inside the fuse box but i dont think that will happen for another week.

I do have the shop manual (big guy, not haynes) and i'm currently looking over the electrical section, but if anyone has any pointers or anything to say about the fuses that have a voltage or dont have a voltage that should, please chime in. Also, when i connect the battery, with the doors closed and all, I can hear sparks coming from the connector. As far as I know, only the ecm and radio should be getting power, should they be causing a draw big enough to cause sparks from connecting them?

The only other bit of information I have right now, since i just started investigating this, is that when i lower or raise my driver side window, the radio gets a lot of static and the windows operate (both sides) pretty slow.

I'll update with progress as i get the tools I need to look into this.

 

You really only need one simple tool to pinpoint a battery drain - A test light.
Disconnect your negative battery cable (leave pos cable connected) and put one end of test light on neg cable & the other on the neg battery terminal. If light comes on, go inside car & close the door - remove fuses 1-by-1 until the light goes out. When light goes out you have isolated the circuit with the drain.
Check console light, rear comp't light & any other interior lights. If the security system is fed off the battery directly, you will have to disconnect it before you start to isolate.
Happy Hunting
Corky

 

unfortunately the light didn't come on when the door was closed. Either it's intermittant or I have no clue why it apparently doesn't happen when the battery cable is disconnected when the car is off.

 

Are you positive your battery cables and battery are in top shape? Have you cleaned the cable/terminal connections? How about your alternator? Has that been tested? Cables running from it? Make sure the battery has proper ground and it's not coated in garbage or rusted badly at the engine ground.

 

I need to run a multimeter on the wires to test for resistance and such, but I'm not going to get a hold of one for at least another week. Visually, everything looks fine. I'm not sure how the wires look connected on the starter because it's been a long time since i've looked at it.


Battery is in excellent shape, it's a brand new Gold series Die Hard. Alternator charges fine, the starting ability of the car has been consistantly better (no clicks or slow cranks) since disconnecting the cable while off. If it's a loose or dirty connection, then i've just been getting lucky by disconnecting the battery. I'll need to put a meter to it to be sure what's going on with the wires.

 

Put an ammeter in series with your + battery cable. You should see a current draw. Start pulling fuses one by one while making sure what your ammeter says. Once you pull the fuse from the circuit that is drawing power, your ammeter should read nothing.

 

the test light acts as an ammeter since it was in series.

 

I had a similar problem with my car that tracked down to the VATS. The security light, fuel pump and injectors all work fine, but when I put a volt meter on the starter enable relay I was only getting a 1-3 volt spike to the starter. That made the clicking at the starter.

The VATS supplies a ground to activate the enable relay. Try directly grounding the relay signal wire and give your key a twist to see if it cranks correctly.

 

obviously. But it doesn't show how much of a draw there is, now does it?

 

there was no draw, the light was out. if the problem is intermittant, then I'm going to need to test it like that multiple times after driving it, but I still have to get a multimeter to get the resistance of the wires before I can really narrow it down to either a wiring connection issue or a mysterious draw.

 

anyone have any pictures of under the steering column (behind the plastic cover around the fuse box? I took out the security and "car commander" system and needless to say there were a lot wires I needed to remove and a lot of wires were cut and relays were removed. most importantly I want to know where the VATS module is so i can bypass it eventually.

 

this was what was in my car.

 

well since i'm replying to myself mostly, I reconnected the ignition and VATS wires that were disconnected and the car starts and runs normally. This weekend i'll be able to tell if the above mess was the reason for my mysterious battery draw and difficult starts.