ironimages

Thanks for the update on this, I'm no expert, but you might consider pulling the fuses one at a time and if the ticking stops that will narrow down what to look for.

Warpig

You do want to keep your battery charged. The worst state for a Lead Acid battery to be left in is a discharged state. I've seen lead acid batteries left discharged and connected in a car for even as little as a week destroy the battery to where it never held a good charge again. Lead Sulfate builds up on the plates during discharge (sulfation, which is normal) and dissipates back into the battery chemistry as lead and sulfuric acid when the battery is charged. This is the normal chemical cycle of a lead acid battery. When the battery is left in a discharged state the Lead sulfate will crystalize on the plates and cannot be converted back into lead and sulfuric acid dissipated back into the battery chemistry. Depending on how complete the crystalization on the plates they will not recover and the battery will never hold a charge correctly again.

Nick

make_or_break

Sorry about necroposting...but I was wondering whether charging worked. My '96 C2 just started making this noise around the glove box area and now I strongly suspect it's tied to some faulty/failing part affecting the immobilizer. The ticking has showed up three times over a week; the earlier times the car was actually RUNNING (sorry, I forgot this word with my original posting) at the time...and it was definitely louder than the normal flash relay sound (which I can barely hear over the usual cabin din). The sound went away after the A/C was shut off. At first I thought it had something to do with the vent fan.

The last time the sound showed up the car was off. I couldn't start my 993 at all at crank over; no starter noises, electronics fade to black. By all appearances it looked like the battery went dead when I tried to start my car after only two days of inactivity with a 9 month-old battery (the immobilizer was active during that time). I could hear the ticking noise immediately after the starter failed to crank over, and the cabin lights went dark. Problem was, the A/C and ventilation settings were all in the off position at the time, so perhaps it wasn't the fan after all.

Then out of plain irritation I got the notion to disconnect the battery via the positive post and reconnect (it was either that or finally take my Sig P229 to the car with all the past battery issues I've with it). Instant power-on for the trunk light. The ticking went away and the starter cranked over--albeit the battery had a bit of a hesitation as if it was weak--and the car started up and went into idle. However in hindsight I'm not sure if it really was the battery that caused the hesitation or the fact that I had just loosely placed the connection cable back on the battery terminal without first tightening it before trying to start the car, with with the vibrations of the engine start wreaking havoc on the quality of the electrical connection.

With the battery cable properly tightened, I ran the car for about an hour or so afterward with multiple shut-offs; the car has started up perfectly every time. Voltage readings also looked fine. And letting the car sit overnight it started up perfectly again. Voltage still looks good for the current battery. Now I'm wondering if I really had batteries that went bad in the past when I presumably found the car 'dead' on start-up, or the car's hyperactive alarm electronics was the real villain.

Denise993

Mine turned out to be a dead battery. I got a new battery installed and all ticking problems are gone. It was the weirdest thing to hear that loud ticking ...

bart1

I was afraid one of you were going to find this guy behind the dash:



Seriously, when describing ticking problems, it would be helpful to describe frequency and pattern of the ticking.

kjr914

Nah, THIS is the guy I'd worry about....

2Many Cars

Make sure your ground cable at the battery is cleanly connected both at the battery and the chassis. The fluky battery performance can also be caused by an intermittant battery voltage drop due to a bad cell. While unlikely in a new battery stranger things have happened.

make_or_break

Glad to hear that it worked out for you.

Been there, done that. I've had PLENTY of experience with this car and battery cables over the past couple of years.

Had I not decided to rehook the positive terminal back up to this current battery and just assumed it was again the case of a faulty battery, it would've been the fourth battery from this car to presumably suffer such a diagnosis in just under two years. There's only so much tolerance a person--particularly a cretin such as I--can take. But lo and behold, the car's voltage and electrical systems have been strong ever since the reconnect, and who am I to question as to why? I only kick myself for not trying this previously with any of the earlier "dead" batteries if only to see 'what if'.

As for the ticking, so far it hasn't returned...so at least for now I won't have any further panic attacks about a vengeful ex placing any more pipe bombs in the glove box (if I actually had an ex, that is...).