*sigh* Any idea what this could be?

[RNUK]

Just picked my daughter up from school and got back home. Car outside for 10 minutes. Got in to take her to her dance class and it won’t start. First thought was flat Battery. But the wheel happily moves to position and retracts again on ignition button.

[cruisermark]

Hi

Tony I would first rule out the Battery - the steering motors require a lot les power than the starter motor.

[scudney]

Would definitely say its your Battery,especially after hearing the clicking noise.

[RNUK]

To be fair, I've just been out and everything is a little more reluctant to run electrically now.

[scudney]

Furthermore it's getting to that time of year again where if a Battery is on its last legs this is the ideal time for it to play up.Try starting it with a jump pack if you have one.

[Herbie]

Yep, that clicking noise indicates a duff Battery.

It has enough power in it to activate the starter solenoid but when the solenoid contacts pull in to send 300A or more to the starter motor, there isn't enough power in the Battery to do that, so the voltage drops enough to deactivate the solenoid. With the solenoid deactvated, voltage climbs back up high enough to pull in the solenoid contacts again and the whole process repeats, hence the rapid clicking noise, commonly known as solenoid chatter.

[RNUK]

Thanks all. I changed the Battery (and reset the windows) and we are all good again.

Not encountered Battery dying like this before. 

[The-Acre]

47 minutes ago, RNUK said:

Thanks all. I changed the battery (and reset the windows) and we are all good again.

Not encountered battery dying like this before. 

An AA man told me recently that failing batteries used to give warning, now they just die he said!

[Barry14UK]

Agree with what others have said.  However, on one occasion I had a similar problem and when I disconnected the Battery I found a build up of corrosion on the Battery terminals.  With this cleaned off along with the posts, after reconnecting all was good again - no need for a new Battery at that stage - always worth checking. 

True about batteries just dying these days rather than fading.  Can apply to motor cycle batteries too as I have experienced.

Batteries are not always cheap but are normally accessible and it could have been worse!

[Alfalfa]

How often do you charge the Battery? I replaced my Battery 3 weeks ago and have a usb with volt meter and after 14 days with only short trips i did go for an 1 hour trip, the charging volt was 14.2v allmost all the way and did go down to not charging after 55min. So if you use the car like me with only 10 min trips, charging the Battery maybe once a month will make your Battery happy and last longer.