[corrado_mr2]

I panicked last weekend while pampering my CT and enjoying the car's sound system in my garage. Radio was still on the whole time and after a couple hours the entire dash lights were blinking and making this clicking sound!

I tried to start the car but only to notice the lights dimmed (while still blinking). No go. I feared the worst that I drained the battery as I have drained past car batteries before under similar (but longer) circumstances. As I reached for the manual to see if there's any special procedure on boosting the CT, I decided to go in the house, get my other Smart Access Key for the car, and try that one - see what happens.

Sigh of relief, I sat in the car and it started. I drove around the block for ten minutes thinking I may need to recharge the possibly drained battery, then parked the car back in the garage. The issue never happened again (so far) with either of the Smart Keys.

I've had an '08 IS never with this issue, but then again I don't recall running power accessories for a long time.

Anyone experience this crazy dash flickering? Is it possible the first Smart Key lost its secure "wireless" connection to the car for whatever reason?

 

[dkid]

Check the manual about the Smart Access Key. I remember reading something about the key being close to the car for a long time with out the car running and that it would cause the key to not work. I can't rember exactly what it said. Since my car hasn't arrived yet I would have to use the online manual and it is a little hard to use.

 

[rehabmax]

Yeah, don't do that again. I would not advise running the sound system for hours at a time with the car off and using battery power. I don't think it has the power of a larger car to run audio for extended periods.

 

[leonar40]

Wow, I just had the same thing happen to me! I washed my car, took about an hour and a half. I did have the key in my pocket the entire time, but everything in the car was off. I was not playing the stereo or anything. I left my car parked in the middle of the garage and went into the house for about 2 hours. I am about to head out for lunch and so I wanted to move my car to the left side of the garage. As soon as I hit the start button the entire dash is blinking rapidly and clicking noises. This went on for about 10 seconds and finally all the dash lights came on. I pushed the start button and the car turned off. I pushed it again and everything came on normally! What the heck is going on???

 

[leonar40]

Update - I think my 12V battery might be bad, or at least it's very low. I measured it and it was only reading 10.2 V. I have it on a slow-rate battery charger now and it appears to be taking a charge, I guess we'll see if that helps. That would certainly explain the issues with starting up!

 

[leonar40]

So I really don't know what to make of what happened yesterday. I charged the battery up with my home charger and it charged to 14.2 V no problem. Once it started float charging at 13.4 V, I took the charger off and let it sit all night. To my surprise it was sitting at 12.69 V this morning, which is exactly where it should be for an open circuit voltage. I thought for sure I had a bad cell in the battery (hence the ~2V drop) but now I don't think so. Do you think that having the key next to the car for 1.5 hours and having the doors open, and thus the interior lights on for 30 min would be enough to drain the battery down to the point that the car won't start? I sure wouldn't think so. I know the 12 V battery is not as big as a normal car battery but that seems pretty excessive. Next time I wash the car I'll turn the interior lights off...

 

[Perl1947]

I panicked last weekend while pampering my CT and enjoying the car's sound system in my garage. Radio was still on the whole time and after a couple hours the entire dash lights were blinking and making this clicking sound!

I tried to start the car but only to notice the lights dimmed (while still blinking). No go. I feared the worst that I drained the battery as I have drained past car batteries before under similar (but longer) circumstances. As I reached for the manual to see if there's any special procedure on boosting the CT, I decided to go in the house, get my other Smart Access Key for the car, and try that one - see what happens.

Sigh of relief, I sat in the car and it started. I drove around the block for ten minutes thinking I may need to recharge the possibly drained battery, then parked the car back in the garage. The issue never happened again (so far) with either of the Smart Keys.

I've had an '08 IS never with this issue, but then again I don't recall running power accessories for a long time.

Anyone experience this crazy dash flickering? Is it possible the first Smart Key lost its secure "wireless" connection to the car for whatever reason?

It's probably

the 12v depleted battery.
Try connecting a booster.