2003 Executive with battery warning light issue, cold use some help

[2003_TC_Executive]

I bought my car 11/18 with 137k, currently has 241k. My car is my work horse and it's not uncommon to run 5-6 hours a day non stop. Original starter was replaced on 5/16/19 at 150k, on 2/10/23 I installed a new battery and on 3/1/23 a new alternator. My problem started on 3/3/23 when I unintentionally drove through standing water in a rain storm. A few minutes later the battery light came on. When I would accelerate the traction control; airbag & brake warning lights would come on too but would go off when I let of the gas pedal after a few seconds. If I accelerated to quickly my headlights would cut off along with the radio and climate control panel.

On 3/4/23 I went to Autozone and their tester said all was working fine, I disconnected the battery cables and cleaned both cable connectors and terminals and was fine until 3/8/23 when I had to quickly jerk the wheel to avoid someone failing to yield when enter the road and all the warning lights were back on, I turned the car off for about 20 minutes and all was good. I drove around town for a few hours on 3/9/23 with no issues, turned the car off for a few minutes to gas up and then the same issue with the warning lights. The odd thing is when the battery light is on it's almost like the dome lights have LED's in them.

Fast forward to 3pm on 3/10/23 I went to get in to go to work and got nothing but repeated clicking from the starter. I checked the battery with a volt meter and got 11.6 volts, I know its low but in theory should have been enough to slow crank. It was mentioned to me that these cars are know for the starter wires getting corroded, unfortunately it was raining so I wasn't about to crawl under the car in the mud but would corroded starter wires cause the battery light issue or just cause a no crank issue? I'm gonna pull the battery today and take it to Autozone for a recharge and load test then reinstall and see if my obd reader with live data will give me any insight. I'm trying to trouble shoot all that I can before biting the bullet and taking it to a shop.

 

[Norms1stTC]

It seems you've got a parasitic drain somewhere. Time to get the multi meter out. Sounds to me like you also might have gotten some debris on one or more of your ABS sensors or it could indeed just be that they the associated wiring is still damp and your battery may be just bad also. If it were me, I would pull each tire/wheel and take some compressed air and blow off each of the sensors and check to associated wiring going to each sensor. Also put some dielectric grease on the pins and connectors, that will keep water out. While you're under there, check all engine sensors too and pull plugs and dry out.

 

[oktowncar]

Besides cleaning all battery connections you need to go through all vehicle grounds. Especially if you live in the salt/rust belt

 

[Action]

I will add that even though the alternator is mounted high up it may have taken some water and/or debris.

As suggested above, checking and cleaning connections as needed will be necessary.

Action

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[2003_TC_Executive]

I went out before work Saturday to look things over, after sitting 24 hours the battery voltage was still the same as Friday, cables look good and clean up top but it was still to wet to get underneath. I just went through my Autozone member page and it appears the started I installed in 2019 was a $75 valucraft reman unit so in all honesty I wouldn't be surprised if it did give up the ghost, ironically when the original starter went out the same thing happened, no warning or poor starting leading up to it, was fine one day and then next the thing was toast. I'm gonna tow it to the shop probably Tuesday or Wednesday if I can't get it to start with the old hammer trick.