01 LeSabre stranded wife

I have an 01 LeSabre, purchased new, 45,000 miles. Today my wife went to the library and when she came out 30 minutes later, the car wouldn't start. She called me and said it was clicking. I took a jump box and went, but when I got there, it wasn't clicking, but a faint ticking from the fuse box under the hood. Jump box did no good. No lights, radio, horn, etc. However, power locks and deck lid remotely worked, but lights didn't flash. When my wife first tried to start car, she turned key, nothing happened. She released it and all dash lights began flashing. This didn't happen the second time she tried, but the wipers came on very slowly. Rest of times tried, nothing happened at all. This is very strange to me.... any ideas?? Thanx

If you heard a clicking noise coming from the MaxiFuse/Relay Panel under the hood, there's only a couple things it could be.

If it does it continuously (i.e. not only when trying to turn the engine over) then it's probably a self-reseting circuit breaker in the MaxiFuse portion. Same size as a MaxiFuse, but doesn't look like a fuse.

If it only does it when you're trying to turn over the engine, then it's the starter relay located in the relay bank under the fuses.

You can likely place your finger on each relay and circuit breaker until you feel the one that's clicking. If it's a circuit breaker, then it's continuously tripping and attempting to reset due to a wiring fault. If it's a relay, it's either failing to engage properly or a wiring fault is causing it to click on and off constantly trying to provide power to the starter.

Did you get this fixed? What was the problem? My first thought was a bad battery post, somewhat common in this year for Delco batterys from what I read.

Over the years I have found that to clean battery cables properly you need to spend some time soaking the battery posts and clamps in baking soda and warm or hot water. This is necessary to completely remove the acid and buildup from everything. If the clamps have a major buildup of whitish/greenish residue you may have to repeat the process several times until it is all dissolved. I remove the battery then bend the cable down to the desired position before putting the clamp into a short glass with the hot solution. Under the glass I prop it up so that each cable will be immersed as far as possible and then go into the house to watch a TV show with my g/f. This allows enough time for the baking soda to work peacefully on the acid buildup and to allow me to spend quality time on my g/f's car and with her. After the TV show I would empty the glass and repeat until it was completely neutralized. My g/f hasn't had any troubles since and is a happy camper. This works especially well on side terminal batteries. Be sure to rinse everything and brush before reassembly. You can use a protective coating to keep the problem from returning as quickly, thus spending even more time with your significant other in the future.

I had a problem with a battery leaking acid after an accident. Every once in a while, the car would refuse to start. I'd find so much acid build up, it pushed off the protective cap.

I'd clean it up, and everything worked fine. At least the first two times. The third time, it accomplished nothing. Turns out the battery was shot. Presumably, b/c of leaking acid as a result of the accident.

When I got the new battery... I filled the gap between the lead terminal and the plastic casing with RTV. *shrug* Figured it couldn't hurt, and I don't think my terminals could take another leaking battery. I had to replace the positive terminal bolt because the acid had literally eaten it in half.

I also coated the terminals with electrolytic grease (the stuff they fill telephone splices with to increase conductivity and keep water out). With 770 cold crank amps, it probably doesn't matter, but such things entertain me.