2004 Camry clicking noise from gearbox with ignition off ?

[AngryAussie]

ok, very weird thing just happened, went to go out in my Camry and Battery was totally flat, which was odd because i replaced it 2 months ago.

Did a full recharge and when i put it back in the car there is a loud ticking noise coming from the around the auto transmission area.

It was constant and only stopped when i put a key in the ignition ?  Stopped right away.

Not sure what else to do I checked for any fuses and relays not working etc ..... to find that when I pull out the EFI Relay from the engine bay, it also stopped the clicking sound

So the car actually drives perfect as per normal but once i stop I have to lift the bonnet and take out the EFI relay to prevent the Battery being discharged.

Being just before Easter I drove it to a Auto Electrical shop where they guys worked out that something in the ignition 'might' be causing this

They played around and noticed that if you run the engine, then turn the ignition off BUT dont remove the key just yet,

there is a single audible 'click' ... THEN remove the key .... VOILA ...... no ticking/ clicking noise coming from the auto area ?

One of their young blokes got under the car and also worked out that pulling the power from the transmission also stopped this noise .....

THIS is as far as they got and cant look at it any more until after the Easter Holidays

They did say they have never seen this before and would need to research themselves to work this out.

Thankfully in the meantime I can drive it around, everything works fine, air con is perfect, lights, radio etc everything works as per normal.

SO ..... I thought i would put this out here and see if anyone has had any experience with this problem

I did find a thread to a similar problem indicating that the shift interlock solenoid might be the problem ...... but nothing more ?

Hope to hear from someobody soon ...... Cheers and thanks for listening

Albert