Ok Guys, heres a wierd one...

I had a nearly front end collision this weekend. A stupid idiot runs a red light and hits my front left(battery side) quarter panel/bumper going about 45mph. HIT & RUN

At first it appears to be all cosmetic, drivers side fender and bumper are toast and headlight is stuck up but structural seems fine and still drives fine.

I park the car and get in it the next morning... Battery is dead. Thinking that I left the parking lights on, I jump start, drive for a while, park and restart a few times, come home and park, making sure nothing is left on. 8 hours later its dead again.

I pull the positive wire in order to hook up a test light. When hooked up the light blinks on and off and I here what sounds like a relay somewhere near the bumper(below the radiator) clicking on and off in unison with the test light. However when I put the terminal back on I DO NOT hear the clicking.

Does anyone have any ideas?

 

Disconnect the battery ground clamp.
Take some jumper clips & connect a 12v light bulb between the battery & it's ground clamp.
The short will light the bulb.
Start pulling fuses to see which circuit is pulling current.

Also have the battery load checked.
It may have an internal failure.

 

Sorry, if you're looking for some miraculous answer that will instantly fix your vehicle, I doubt you will get it.
Electrical problems are a pain in the ***, and it requires a DMM and an electrical wiring diagram to diagnose.


-Ted

 

Headlight is stuck...motor is trying to turn all the time, because it's not at the end of it's cycle...anytime the motor finds itself somewhere in the middle of it's rotation, it automatically tries to go up or down and complete the turn. IT won't stop until you unplug it or unfuse it. Remove your retractor fuse.

 

No Ted, I'm not looking for any miraculous answers. I'm looking for answers such as Sureshot and Rotary Resurrection have provided. Thanks Guys.

I would expect that unpluging the headlight would be a better solution If intend on driving at night so as not to disable my other headlight.

BTW, would the headlight motor be making a sound?

 

No the headlight wouldnt make a sound, mine didnt but it killed my optima. I'm 99% sure it's the headlight as well. Disconnect the motors and see if your problem disappears or just pull the fuse for the retractor.

 

I had the same problem after someone backed into my FC. I pulled the fuse in the engine bay for the retractor motors and left the headlights in the up position till I fixed the body work.

 

It should be noted that the bulbs themselves work even if the motor is unplugged or unfused, and also that the motors are manually adjustable even when not powered, by a **** under the car.