Battery Corrosion Cleanup

[dmcole]

2002 996 C2 42K miles

I tried a bunch of site searches and came up with nothing; so I apologize if this is already captured somewhere.

Seven days ago I was doing routine maintenance, and when I popped the hood there was a tremedous amount of + terminal corrosion buildup on the battery, like an inch of corrosion in every direction away from the terminal. I sprayed battery cleaner on it and then used a scrwdriver to break off the chunks. Since the cleaner had over-sprayed to small areas other than the battery, I took distilled water and poured it gently over that terminal and surrounding areas--probably a quart total. Some of the water ran down the wiring bundles to who knows where... It looked like most of it ran through the bottom and out onto the garage floor, similar to how rain water would run through the area, though i suspect that rain water doesn't actually run through that particular area due to the battery cover.

Immediately after, I started noticing a soft CLICK-click sound every seven seconds--it's clockwork: never faster, never slower. This clicking occurred all the time--car on, car off, every speed. All electronics work fine, it seems. No trouble starting, using HVAC, radio, alarm, CD, etc. So I assumed that the water ran down into *something* that had shorted some circuit.

Now the battery is dead, which I can deal with, but it would appear I need to dry out something, as well.

Does the seven second pattern ring any bells for anyone--is there some process that checks for status 'x' every seven seconds and flips a switch of some sort? Once I deal with the battery, I can get it on ramps and look under, but that's just a crapshoot at this point. Is there someplace or something I should be looking for specifically?

[dr914jr]

If it's a "click" than it's most certainly a relay. Go under the drivers dash and feel each of the relays as you listen to the click. Once you've identified the relay you can begin troubleshooting.

[dmcole]

OK, this was one of those, " I wish I never said anything..." posts.

When I was doing the maintenance last week, I also moved a bunch of stuff around in the car. It turns out that I had set my umbrella on the outside of the passenger seat and it was resting on the seat adjustment controls; so it was continuously trying to adjust the seat even though the seat couldn't move any further.

Anyway, problem solved, but thanks for the feedback.

[dr914jr]

Nice! Just the old loose nut behind the steering wheel. :drive:

[bolobar]

Nice! Just the old loose nut behind the steering wheel. :drive:

I like that! May I use it? :)

[dr914jr]

Of course you can! I think a friendly flogging is instrumental learning to maintain your car.