Battery Problem ... Maybe

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Leo

Guest
Hey y'all

My Disco died on me today morning. When I turn on the ignition, there's a clickity-click-click sound, and thats it. I wasn't sure if it's the battery, or the distributor or something else. The noise seems to resonate from the passenger's side of the engine bay.
The headlights come on and the horn honks - so I'm guessing the battery is fine.
Any ideas on what it could be?

Thanks all,
Leo
2000 Disco '02 SE7
 
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aclone

Well-known member
May 13, 2005
93
0
Melbourne FL
You still might want to check the voltage of the battery under load. I had that happen with a Yellow Top a couple of months after I bought it - turned out it was a bad battery. Do the lights stay bright when trying to start? Either way, I'd take it where they can test it to be sure.
 
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Leo

Guest
the lights come on & the horn honks... but I haven't let them stay on for long .. so I don't know if it gets dimmer.
I'll check that when I get home today & re-post.
 
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DiscoJon

Well-known member
Jul 19, 2005
309
0
40
just remove the terminals and clean them as a first effort

Baking soda + water on them
 
L

Leo

Guest
yeah, i cleaned the terminals out last night... just with a brush . There was quite a bit of corrossion on there; jumped the car & its running right now.

I think i might do an electrics test on it, to further see if there is a deeper problem
 
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Best4x4

Guest
Just went through this with my 03 Disco with the stock battery.

I jumped in it one day, it fired right up and I drove maybe 3 miles to my local car wash. While waiting in line I turned off the engine and just had the stereo on. The person in front of me finally left so once again it fired right up and I proceeded to wash my truck. After making it look all nice and new I jumped in and all I got was click click click! Got a jump got and went straight home to test the battery and alternator and all was well. Cleaned the terminals and for the next week it was fine. Then on saturday I got the famous click click click again. That was enough for me, so I went down to Autozone and grabbed an optima red top battery with the wider terminals (Optima 75/35-OR).

Conclusion: The stock battery would hold a charge, but not enough AMP's to start the car sometimes especially after listening to the radio or having the interior lights on for to long. My advice would be to replace the battery (optima preferred or Interstate) and clean the terminals. Those OEM Delphi batteries are like ticking bombs sooner or later it's going to go out on ya.

Tad
 
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alex3324

Well-known member
Oct 19, 2004
510
0
Valhalla I am coming home!
take the battery out and have it tested. even though the battery runs the horn and the lights, there may not be enough juice to crank the engine. If the battery checks fine and the starter runs fine when jumping it from another vehicle, check the alternator. You should be getting about 14 volts at the battery terminals when the engine is running and alternator turning. If you're getting less, you've got a suspect alternator.
 
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apg

Well-known member
Dec 28, 2004
3,019
0
East Virginia
Just went through this on the '72 88"...battery was three or so years old and under warranty, but it would not hold a charge. Battery was only putting out what I call a "top charge" that is, it would read 12.4 volts or so, but under any significant load, like the amperage needed by a starter, it was a no-go. When running, the alternator was putting out 13.6 volts, so it was good, too.

The usual reason is that one or more cells have become 'sulfated' and it resists internal current flow. Have the battery place do a load test, which will most likely come back as a bad battery.

The Disco will run a surprisingly long time on battery power alone when the alternator dies. BTDT...GTTS. However, the electrics have a very definite threshold or cut-off. At 9.3 volts, most systems still function. At 9.2 volts nothing does....

Cheers
 
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