Question in title.
The noise is the solenoid, but the cause of the engine not turning over is usually a dead battery. If the battery is okay, then it may be the starter solenoid or the starter motor itself.
I’ll give it a shot. The power windows work so I figured there was enough juice to start it, but I guess not. Thanks!
The battery can power things like the interior lights, power windows, but now have enough juice to turn the starter.
Check the battery terminal connections for corrosion. Or they might just be loose. Try cleaning the terminals and tighten them up and see if thing start working again.
Turn on you head lights have someone watch the lights as you try to start the car. If they dimm or go out then battery.
He’s not hearing his starter motor cranking at all, so this test isn’t going to be useful. Also, it’s not unusual for headlights to dim when cranking an engine with a good battery, so this is not a test that’s going to tell us much.
Or poor battery cable connections. Or faulty starter drawing too much current. Not a conclusive test at all.
Just had this happen to the wife’s Suburban.
Had the guys at Auto Zone put their ‘tester’ on it. They said the battery was crap.
Replaced the battery. It started fine for 2 days, then, not so much.
Took it to an actual mechanic. He replaced the alternator.
Works fine now.
Alternator wasn’t recharging the battery properly.
So, your alternator is another possibility.
If the battery is at a low enough charge that the starter does not turn over then attempting to start the solenoid will drag the voltage down to cause the light to dimm drastically or go out so this is a first test and if you know what you are doing and the battery is low will tell you a lot. If the lights do not dimm drastically or go out then it is time to get out the meters and start checking.
Bad battery cable goes with battery. Usually a faulty starter drawing too much current the solenoid does not click, pressure keeps the bendex ingaged.
I have heard of this happening to others. A low battery does not mean the battery is bad. It means battery not being charged, not taking charge, not holding charge, charge being depleated, or not connected properly. These are easy to check out with a VOM.
Again, the lights can dim regardless of battery condition
Oh. Of course. 
Checking the battery is the place to start regardless of whether or not the lights dim.
That doesn’t sound right to me. I believe a faulty starter can draw too much current while the solenoid continues to operate normally. Maybe Gary T can confirm.
No one has suggested the other obvious explanation for the “tic-tic-tic” sound. Please see Lefty Rosenthal. Is that an '81 El Dorado you got there?
Actually the testers that are in use today can accurately test a battery that won’t even light a headlight. In this case the battery and the alternator were both bad. (One of them failed and took the other one down with it)
The problem most likely was not that they were sold a battery they didn’t need, it was that the alternator output was not checked once the new battery was installed.
Battery was bad. We’ll see about the alternator.
Thanks!
Good battery will drop from 13 to maybe as low as 11 vdc, little light dimm. Bad battery as low 0 volts, weak battery maybe from 11 to 8 volts. Both cases are dimming lights but there is a difference.
hhh