Hi Gents. Picked up a 99 Civic about a week ago. I ended up losing the bolt that connects the negative battery terminal to the frame. I stole a bolt that connects the fuse/relay box to the frame. Everything was fine until today the car wouldn't start. It just made a fast click click click noise. I read that this is usually battery related. Can someone tell me if i used a bad ground and caused a problem. Or maybe it was just a coincidence and I need to replace the battery.

Thanks!

 

Can you move the ring around the battery terminal (is the connection tight and secure)? Clicking usually means a dead battery in my experiences.

 

Yes a bad ground will do that but you should also check the connections at the battery like civicrcr said, and measure the battery voltage while trying to start. If the voltage at the battery POSTS (not the terminals, measure on the lead posts that are part of the battery) drops below 9 volts, the battery is run down or defective.