Please help! My car is dead as a door nail. When I turn ignition off I get a rapid clicking noise coming from the dash in the glove box area. When I turn the ignition on the clicking noise stops. What could this be? I live in south central Florida and it gets very hot. My battery is only three years old.Also, just noticed, the steering wheel is not locked

 

A battery is a crap shoot. You can buy 3 of the same batteries. One might last a year, one might last two or three years and one might last ten years. If you can jump start it, drive it down to have your local parts store and have your charging system checked for 'free'.. My guess is you need a new battery

 

3 years out of a battery is actually sort of 'normal'. And then we can talk about my '97 HoopTBird that had the original in it and was traded away for Awesome in '08, so 11 years on that one, and was still good. Alternator went out before the battery did, swapped, still goin'. Go figure.

But anyway, on these S197s, you're gonna have to do that swappin'. You can help things a bit, if you want to take the time, and clean things up, apply dielectric grease on all the connections and maybe forestall the battery swap by two or three more years... but it's a comin'. The charging systems on these things is silly.

In case you wanna know what 'fixed' mine... if you call that extension 'fixing'... https://themustangsource.com/forums/...4/#post6917899

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As far as the steering not locked... it's mechanically done. You have to insert your key and turn it to unlock it. If it's not locked without the key, that means the lock itself is broken, and it needs replaced. It could also be a problem with your ignition cylinder because it drives that lock.

You might need a mechanic on that one if you're not inclined to do that job. They're just a little bit special, those locks... Anti-tamper bolts and such.

Hope that helps.

 

Spot on getting a new battery for my Boss and it lasted over 7 1/2 years!