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A loose battery cable can very easily cause a lot of strange issues. with low voltage (or current) supplied to control modules and relays they tend to act up. In particular, if a relay is getting a low voltage on the control circuit and energizes a load that will then drop the voltage more which will lower the voltage on the control side and de-energize the relay with will then drop the load and raise the voltage and re-energize the relay. This can continue until the alternator has a chance to fight the poor connection and bring the battery voltage back up closer to normal when the relays stop dropping out (or the control module stops wigging out). I'm pretty sure this is why when your battery is not charged and you try to start your car you get a rapid fire "clicketyclicketyclickety" noise and no actual cranking of the starter.
... drop the voltage more which will lower the voltage on the control side and de-energize the relay with will then drop the load and raise the voltage and re-energize the relay. This can continue until the alternator has a chance to fight the poor connection and bring the battery voltage back up closer to normal when the relays stop dropping out (or the control module stops wigging out). I'm pretty sure this is why when your battery is not charged and you try to start your car you get a rapid fire "clicketyclicketyclickety" noise and no actual cranking of the starter.
Yes^^^
Dave,
Like my signature says, always suspect connections first.
All connections should have bare, shiny metal tightly contacting bare, shiny metal.
Again, it would help if you put modele-year-engine-transmission-trim on your signature. We reply to several threads and it is a waste of time having to go back to all the posts just to make sure we're not talking about an Escalade
Last edited by RAD4Runner; 03-19-2018 at 10:29 AM.
I greatly appreciated member's comments and suggestions so I thought I would provide an update. In the last post mentioned I was unable to get the starter to engage and thought perhaps related to a dead battery. Took a few minutes to realize 1 of the cables on the positive battery terminal was loose and once tightened starting was no longer a problem. As member's noted, it could account for the clicking of the relays. Been monitoring for the past few days and so far appears to have solved the problem?
There's the issue of what to do with the Red wire, appears there is a filter of some type, I would assume it connects to 1 of the leads on the positive terminal, so far I have not noticed it has effected any of the other components and not sure I want to connect until I have some clue as to what it does and curious if any member has any thoughts. I have an alarm system but have since disconnected the wiring but I do not believe the wire has anything to do with the alarm?
Dave,
Let me reiterate:
1) Start with basics; Did you find EXACTLY which relay is oscillating?
2) Since you were already checking connections, Did you clean them all? Connections need not only be tight; there should also be bare, shiny metal contacting bare shiny metal. Do you have that?
And what's that red ring terminal that is loose need your battery post? Loose un-insulated wires, especially un-identified, are a No-No. Again, basics... Electricity 101. If you don't know what it is, it is not connected and it does not affect other systems, remove it. Clean up your work space.
03-05-2018, 08:50 AM
