2004 ford explorer Just hear clicking when trying to turn over

[frylockxxx]

originally posted this in wrong section

Not sure where to start any help or suggestions would help. For starters originally this weekend was planned to take a look at my wife's multi-functional switch because when ever she would use her left signal it randomly started to make a buzzing sound when ever it was on. Not sure why that is happening but it is probably stemming from the front left turn signal being broken for a while.

On Friday we went out to go grocery shopping and took her car because she said she needed gas. We made it less then a mile down the road and ran out of gas. ( I walked and got us some gas. Car started up fine we went shopping and came back home.

Saturday morning came around and i decided to get going on the original problem with the buzzing. when searching this forum i read that my switch may be dusty and need a can of air sprayed in the hazards button and but the multinational switch. so i sprayed the air, cleaned the battery terminals, checked some fuses from the power distribution box under the hood, and pushed the hazard button a few times. I went to turn on the car so i could check the turn signal. and the car wouldn't start. dint sound like it was turning over at all just clicking like a dead battery. also strange that it kept sounding like the hazards were on for a little bit. when i tested the battery my simple tester said weak on load bearing and without load it had 12v. tried charging and jumping. it didnt work. waited for wife to get home with other car.

Sunday(today) I took the battery to auto zone they said battery was good and was at 80 percent. they charged it for me taking way longer then they expected around an hour and 40 minutes. got home and hooked up battery and tested with no luck in turning over the engine...

I am usually good at searching to find my issues but i am stumped with many different variables any input is appreciated

Update 1 sometimes when the key is in and i hit the hazard button i hear a buzzing

Update 2 i charged the battery to 100 percent tried to turn over once and the battery went down to 70 percent

 

[Rick]

My guess is that at least one battery cable is badly corroded internally and is not allowing enough current to pass through. When you cleaned your terminals did you notice if the cable seemed to be swollen beneath it's plastic insulation?

 

[frylockxxx]

Hey rick thanks for your reply the red one looks fine the negative looked the worstr but i think i gotta splice the wire to find out. sorry it took so long to respond just got home from work. I have a feeling it has something to do with the battery. its strangly at 60 percent after autozone just said they charged it, i have only tried starting it a few times (maybe 10 ) since i got home from there. *I hooked it up to my charger on a slow charge. Something weird has happen like this before to me and i had to replace the battery. I will know tonight but last time i would charge the battery to full then the second i took it off the charger and back on it would say like 80 or 60 percent. other then that i will be splicing the negative connector to confirm your suggestion.

Edit: I finished the charging and when i tried to turn over once the battery went down to 70 percent i am not sure if that means anything

Edit also found 2 fuses that need to be changed (doubting they have anything to do with the problem sadly but ill add it on here anyway powerpoint #1 and radio amplifier

 

[ZandakMoonshire]

have you tried testing a different battery.

Also i have no idea if your make and model has this problem, but i read it may be the security.
Does anyone know if his car could be the security.

 

[frylockxxx]

Yes I tested an old boat battery yesterday and I also stripped the negative terminal we to check for corriosion... I still haven't got it to turn over I'm still learning towards something electrical because of how it happen and my previous issues, but it looks like I will be talking off the starter for a test atleast also will be renting a relay tester from autozone

 

[ZandakMoonshire]

Yes I tested an old boat battery yesterday and I also stripped the negative terminal we to check for corriosion... I still haven't got it to turn over I'm still learning towards something electrical because of how it happen and my previous issues, but it looks like I will be talking off the starter for a test atleast also will be renting a relay tester from autozone

try banging on the starter a bit

 

[massacre]

i think Rick is onto something.
in my experience, when you’re having a lot of strange issues with different circuits on a vehicle, most times it is either the battery or cables. Intermittent or low voltage can make some weird things happen.
maybe check all of the battery terminal connections- at the battery, at the starter solenoid, at the power distribution box, etc and make sure they are clean and tight. Make sure the cables themselves are in good shape.

maybe use a test light and see what is getting power and what isn’t, you could have a chafed or loose wire too.
just my .02

 

[frylockxxx]

so the second battery i tested turned out to be very bad like really bad so that is a bust
so ill sent a picture of my battery under a load test. I do not know if this makes my battery a bad battery or not is 10 volts bad?

Screenshot

Captured with Lightshot

prntscr.com

checked the distrubution box nothing at all and the terminal wires (like ricky said) for corrosion didnt see much . i will check the check on the solenoid but was really wondering about the battery

 

[ZandakMoonshire]

so the second battery i tested turned out to be very bad like really bad so that is a bust
so ill sent a picture of my battery under a load test. I do not know if this makes my battery a bad battery or not is 10 volts bad?

http://[URL]http://prntscr.com/rf187o

[/URL]

checked the distrubution box nothing at all and the terminal wires (like ricky said) for corrosion didnt see much . i will check the check on the solenoid but was really wondering about the battery

 

[frylockxxx]

zandak i think you forgot to write something lol were you oing to tell me if that would that be considered a good or bad battery

 

[frylockxxx]

so got it all sparkling clean all the connections and all the wires i finally put it all together and it has started back up thank you all for your help especially rick now its on to the original problem my turn signal