Weird click

Tiny
CHICOPENDEJO
  • MEMBER
  • 2005 FORD FOCUS
Ok in my 05 focus hatchback every once in a while I hear a clicking noise repeatedly from what sounds like under the hood or somewhere under the dash. When this happens my lights dim the radio cuts in and out and my car hesitates when pressing on the gas. If I turn my car off while its doing this then it cuts everything off. No lights windows no radio no nothing and it seems like the anti-theft turns on preventing me from turning on the car. When it comes back to life my radio has been reset and shows back to 12:00 o clock like all power in the car went out. But when this clicking noise isnt happening my car works fine. And also I used to have a car amplifier and subwoofer installed BUT my amp blew while the clicking noise was happening. Any help would be greatly appreciated

ok this is unrelated to the above but when I turn the wheel I sometimes hear a clank from the wheels like it hit something
Wednesday, March 18th, 2009 AT 3:02 AM

12 Replies

Tiny
RACEFAN966
  • MECHANIC
  • 5,029 POSTS
Ok is sounds like it could be the gem module. Can you give me a better idea of where the sound is coming from? Is more like behind the dash and if so where left side middle or right side. Get back to me with that so we can figure out what is in that location that might be doing this and do a couple of tests.
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Wednesday, March 18th, 2009 AT 10:29 AM
Tiny
CHICOPENDEJO
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Well the noise sounds like it might be coming from under the dash on the driver side like around or behind the fuse box area. The fuses are fine though
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Wednesday, March 18th, 2009 AT 11:46 AM
Tiny
RACEFAN966
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OK what I need you to do is when it is clicking feel the relay's on the fuse box and see if you can feel which one is clicking and get back to me with which one it is so I can see what that controls and we can test that relay first then test what it controls if needed.
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Thursday, March 19th, 2009 AT 10:39 AM
Tiny
MIKEJ1206
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Is there an update to this post? I'm having the exact same problem and can't figure out what is going on.
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Thursday, October 29th, 2015 AT 9:00 AM
Tiny
STOVER84
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  • 5 POSTS
I have a 2004 Ford Focus SE and mine has the same obnoxious clicking sound. Car cuts off sometimes at red lights or hesitates to accelerate. Can some help please?
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Monday, March 30th, 2020 AT 9:13 AM
Tiny
KASEKENNY
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Can you possibly get a recording of this clicking noise? I am not sure they are related to the cutting off but we can treat them as one for now.

Let's start with if there are codes or not. If you can't pull codes then contact the local parts stores and see if they will pull them for you. Most do this free of charge.

Here are some guides that cover the basics of what we are going to be looking for:

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/engine-hesitates

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/stall-at-idle

There are a number of things that cause cause the cutting off or hesitation so we need a little more to go on in order to narrow this down so let me know if there are codes and we can go from there. Even no codes is okay because that tells us that the PCM is not seeing anything wrong. Thanks
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Tuesday, March 31st, 2020 AT 10:09 AM
Tiny
STOVER84
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I have a video of the clicking.
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Friday, April 10th, 2020 AT 3:29 PM
Tiny
KASEKENNY
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That clicking sounds like a relay clicking. It looked like you were under the dash so can you locate the relays under the dash and put your finger on each of them and then get the clicking to occur and see if you can feel it clicking. Most likely the relay itself is the issue for the clicking.

When does it do this clicking? After you shut the engine off? In other words, what do you have to do to get it to do it?
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Friday, April 10th, 2020 AT 7:50 PM
Tiny
STOVER84
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The clicking will just happen out of the blue. It doesn't do it all the time. It' only happens when the car is on, driving and parked. Like I mentioned before it does the clicking randomly. When the clicking occurs though sometimes at red lights the car will shut itself off but will restart no problem.
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Saturday, April 11th, 2020 AT 8:22 AM
Tiny
KASEKENNY
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Okay. Putting these things together the only thing that I can connect is a charging system issue. The relays are clicking because the voltage is getting low, which is common. Then it stalls because of the low voltage. Normally you would get a battery light but if you have an issue with the alternator itself I could see this happen randomly. This is easy enough to check by getting the battery load tested and the alternator tested as well. Most parts stores can do both these tests free of charge.

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/car-battery-load-test

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-check-a-car-alternator
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Saturday, April 11th, 2020 AT 7:40 PM
Tiny
MCK
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I am experiencing the same issue. Figured it was a wiring or voltage issue. Was occurring randomly but then got much worse. Car was also difficult to start at times and idled rough. I popped the hood the other day and a relay by the dash was clicking but also the throttle control. I unplugged the Idle Air Control Valve and the clicking stopped. Replaced the Idle Air Control valve and so far everything seems to be ok. Wondering if the faulty Idle Air Control Valve was causing voltage issues as well. Time will tell.
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Friday, April 2nd, 2021 AT 7:45 AM
Tiny
KASEKENNY
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Thanks for that info. That is a great addition to this post. I would agree that if the clicking stopped the IAC was probably shorted. So replacing it would have fixed that. Thanks for jumping in with that. I am sure it will help others.
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Saturday, April 3rd, 2021 AT 10:01 AM

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