Car doesn't start and horn starts to honk

When trying to start my car (2007 Lincoln Town Car) this morning, nothing happened. I heard 3 popping sounds from under the hood then the horn started blowing and emergency light came one. I was able to stop the honking by disconnecting the battery. Any ideas?

Sounds like a security system/alarm has issues.

My Town Car does not have an active car alarm. Just the usual. If you press the emergency button on the key, then the car starts to honk. In this, the button on the key was not pressed.

Except for the “3 popping sounds” what you describe is not uncommon when the battery gets old and weak.

that is correct. Don’t have an explanation for it. Called the Lincoln dealer. Was told that they have seen this before, and typically this was a sign that the battery needed to be replaced. Is there a way that I can check the condition of my battery?

If you have a DMM, then you can measure the battery voltage while you are cranking the car. If it goes below 9 volts, then it is weak. Otherwise, some auto stores will load test batteries.
If yours is the original factory battery, then it is due for replacement.

Is it correct that the factory battery is not a maintenance free battery? Should I have checked the fluid level in the battery?

Lets concentrate on explaining these poping noises, something relating to arcing of a corroded connection perhaps. OP you heard them and you can see under the hood, can you go any further in explaining these popping noises?

No I don’t think any battery fluid level adjusting is the way to proceede, I do think a standard carbon pile load test combined with a conductance test on the battery is the way to proceede in lieu of a explaniation of these popping noises.

Perhaps a maxi fuse opening up caused these popping noises, how do they look.

AFAIK, the factory battery is maintenance free. My experience was that three to four years was the life of the factory batteries for the panther cars. (This was in a hot climate.) Were the sounds you heard really pops, or could they have been relay clicks? If pops, then that should be investigated.

I don’t know where to find the maxi fuse. However, I was thinking of using a different approach. We know that the battery is over three years old and we have a hot climate in the summer, it stands to reason that the battery has passed it’s prime. I can jump start the Town Car with the help of my van. If the Town Car starts, we know that the battery is the problem. As regards the popping noise, it could have been a relay. I personally wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.