P38A Strange clicking sound

O Bife · Nov 16, 2016

Something odd has just happened. Got into the beast, turned the key to start her up and nowt! At first it seemed that I had a dead battery, but then I heard a click then another click within the cabin. I removed the key and then put it back in the ignition and tried again. This time the clicking sound was constant and the lights on the dash was phasing in and out (at one point just as all went dark, I am sure I saw a message flash by saying something about "fuses"). The clicking sound seemed to be coming from under the front passenger seat (on the right, mine's a LHD)

I even tried getting out, locking her up and then giving it another try, but on clicking the "lock" button I noted the alarm light doing a sort of double blink, not the normal fast blinking for a few seconds then to the normal slow blinking.

Any ideas?

Moonfire · Nov 16, 2016

Check the battery charge and connections before going further

O Bife · Nov 16, 2016

Battery is fine, first thing I checked.

wammers · Nov 17, 2016

Check master fuse 2 and relay 16.

Gergely Bakity · Nov 17, 2016

Check the 3 Brown 12 V cables on BECM RH door side which is secured by 10mm bolts. In my P38 one had corroded and I have to change it from engine bay fuse box to becm.
The another problem is BECM C113 connector (yellow) pin 2 which is send the sign to engine bay fuse box starter relay. If I'am right its a red-white cable. You need to tighten the pin and check the cable connectivity.

O Bife · Nov 17, 2016

Right, the plot thickens.
Just checked all the fuses, both in the cabin and under the bonnet along with the relays, all in order there. Then I had a look at all the connections into the BECM and all ok.
Now, a few things:

When I unlocked the drive's door with the key both front doors unlocked and as I climbed in the rear ones unlocked!
With the key in the ignition I noticed that the red light on the fob was blinking like mad in both the "O" and "1st" position. I have never seen that happen before, yeah, every now and again it does it's "sync" blink, but that is just a simple blink.
Even with the doors unlocked, all was dark on the dash when I turn the key to the "2nd" position

But, something good did happen in the end. I decided to have a better look at the "+" connection on the battery as I had noticed it was a tad "loose". The ruddy locking nuts seem to have, lol, locked good and proper and with that in mind I took it off and roughed the actual terminal a bit along as the inside of the connector and hey presto she fired up as if nowt had been out of place. So, with that in mind, could that have been the ruddy problem all along?

If so, and as long as I can eventually unlock the ruddy poxy locking nuts, is there something simple I can do to improve the connection on both terminals?

Would smearing a tad of grease to the terminals be a help?

wammers · Nov 17, 2016

O Bife said:
Right, the plot thickens.
Just checked all the fuses, both in the cabin and under the bonnet along with the relays, all in order there. Then I had a look at all the connections into the BECM and all ok.
Now, a few things:

When I unlocked the drive's door with the key both front doors unlocked and as I climbed in the rear ones unlocked!

With the key in the ignition I noticed that the red light on the fob was blinking like mad in both the "O" and "1st" position. I have never seen that happen before, yeah, every now and again it does it's "sync" blink, but that is just a simple blink.

Even with the doors unlocked, all was dark on the dash when I turn the key to the "2nd" position

But, something good did happen in the end. I decided to have a better look at the "+" connection on the battery as I had noticed it was a tad "loose". The ruddy locking nuts seem to have, lol, locked good and proper and with that in mind I took it off and roughed the actual terminal a bit along as the inside of the connector and hey presto she fired up as if nowt had been out of place. So, with that in mind, could that have been the ruddy problem all along?

If so, and as long as I can eventually unlock the ruddy poxy locking nuts, is there something simple I can do to improve the connection on both terminals?

Would smearing a tad of grease to the terminals be a help?

Sorted then, keep them clean and tight.

O Bife · Nov 17, 2016

wammers said:
Sorted then, keep them clean and tight.

Almost, I found that the + connector is split where the vertical tightening bolt runs through. So tomorrow going to get a new connector, but with a horizontal tightening bolt (if that will do).

P38A Strange clicking sound

O Bife

Active Member

Moonfire

Member

O Bife

Active Member

wammers

No longer with us, RIP

Gergely Bakity

Member

O Bife

Active Member

wammers

No longer with us, RIP

O Bife

Active Member

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