Have the same problem with my 94 Accord LX. Happened for a second time this morning. Fortunately I was just a mile from my mechanic and it was during business hours so I drove right there so he could see the problem in action. (He kept saying, "It's awesome you got it here while the problem is happening.") He pulled out the glovebox and identified the issue as a relay. He said it's very rare for the relay to break and he wasn't sure he could find a replacement locally. (I'm in Denver.) He has the car. I'll try to remember to report back if replacing the relay fixes it. (I hope so...I'm heading out on a two-hour drive this afternoon if the car is fixed, then a drive up dirt roads into the mountains tomorrow.)

The symptoms I had were a regular clicking sound behind the glovebox (similar to the turn signal sound) with a matching slight flicker of the ABS light on each click. The first time the clicking happened was 10 days ago and it stopped on its own after a few minutes. Everything was fine until this morning when the clicking started again. First the radio would lose power for a split second. Then the tach and speedometer would go wacky and the car would stall for just an instant. (If I were smarter, I would have turned off the radio to see if that made things better.)

The mechanic said my aftermarket radio could be drawing more juice than the original radio and over time (I've had it for many years) it broke the relay, but that's just speculation.

 

my abs light starting turning on and dosnt want to turn off ever since i changed both of my front axels. once i did my back breaks the abs light stoped coming on but when i reajusted the emergency break the abs restarted to stay on and it will only shut off when i turn the car off.

 

UPDATE: The mechanic identified one relay that was clicking. But there are two relays in the same location. Just to be safe, both relays were replaced (cost $200 including labor). Just completed a 500-mile trip and the car ran great. Don't know which relay was the problem, but replacing both seemed to fix it.

 

|Now that it's fixed , don't you feel much better..Of course you do

 

Unfortunately, the problem returned yesterday, so replacing the relays five weeks ago was not the (complete) fix. The clicking/meters going wacky started up again about 10 minutes after leaving the house yesterday morning (every clicking event has happened in the cool of the morning) and continued as I drove another 40 minutes to a meeting. Kept the engine revved when stopped to keep it from stalling. After the meeting the car worked fine with no clicking for the trip home. (In hindsight, when the clicking first started I should have just stopped the car and restarted it to see if that fixed the problem. Of course, I was afraid if I stopped the car it wouldn't restart.) On the way home I stopped by to talk to the mechanic.

Here's what he found.

1. The positive battery terminal had lot of the white corrosion/oxidation. I drive only about 5,000 miles a year, and have learned that less use means more corrosion.

2. The year-old Die-Hard was showing signs of a small amount of leakage from the caps, indicating the acid my have gotten over-heated.

3. The alternator at idle was cranking out 14.5v.

So, the speculation is that due either to the corrosion or a bad alternator, too much juice is going thru the electrical system, which is freaking out the relay. Step one was to clean the corrosion. (Mechanic suggested to just pour one to two gallons of very hot water onto the terminal. That cleaned it right up.) Step two is that if the problem comes back I'll turn on the lights and air conditioning to see if drawing more of the current to other uses makes the relay happy. (We realize voltage and current are different things. We're just trying whatever we can think of.) Whether that works or not, at that point I'll likely replace the alternator.

I cleaned the terminal last night and took two uneventful half-hour drives today.

Open to other theories/suggestions.

 

14.5V on the alternator (to you point volts and amps are different) at idle without loads (lights, fan, AC, ect) is fine...I call it very good, you get worried when it is below 14.5V. Now for amps and you want to be totally sure, have it tested at a store BEFORE replacing.

 

Thanks poorman212.

Since I cleaned the terminal, car's been fine. My mechanic has discouraged me from replacing the alternator until we're fairly certain that's the issue. With the hottest weather behind us (in Denver) we'll see if that might have been a contributing factor, even though the clicking always happened in the morning, before it got hot. The mystery continues...

 

Corrosion like that sometimes indicates hairline cracks in the plastic battery case around the terminal post. Hydrogen from the battery turns moisture (morning dew) into acid & that promotes fast corrosion.

Car-parts stores sell these little felt washers to put under the battery cable clamps. They help some for that. Also you can smother the terminal & clamp with grease after you tighten it.

Realistically, IF there ARE cracks in the battery case, they'll just gradually get worse, until you buy a new battery.

 

Ok, I know it's a reach. I know that when the volts or amps (?) are not enough the ABS light will come one...recently lost the original alt on the 95 and the ABS list came on, this is known and normal. So if you are borderline on volts/amps (corrosion) then these could be related....a reach I know and someone will correct me on this.

 

No, it DOES make sense. Low voltage can cause a lot of flaky things.