Idiot Mistake...Dead Car!!

[xmartiin]

I'll get straight to the point

I unplugged my aftermarket amp and rewired the positive and negative wire vice versa. Yes I know... It was dark outside. It sparked more than it should of and I tried it once more with the positive and negative wire still attached.

This time, both power and ground were connected to the amp with the positive wire disconnected from the battery. I touched the positive terminal and the spark startled me so I just gave up. I connected the power wire to the car and no lights appeared.


I checked for loose connection and nothing was loose. I took a test light connected to the positive and touched the negative with no light to appear. I even connected my battery charger to the positive terminal under the hood and again nothing.

I'm hoping it is just the battery fuse and not the computer or alternator.. How can I diagnose this problem? Any other possibilities?

[THE TECH]

You may have killed the ECM. Obviously you can check the fuses and maybe you'll get lucky.

[elm3]

Check the ECU main fuse. You might have blown that fuse. Also look at any other fuses, like you said no lights or anything. I doubt it very seriously that you messed up the ECU, as the ECU has an inline main fuse to protect against over current. Let me know if this helps


Eric

[TQPDWN]

yep blown fuses,thats what the fuses for to avoid these accidents.
if you car wont start after you changed out the fuses, you might burnt ur starter.

[mahmud///M]

And that is why I hate sound systems...

Good luck op, hope it works out and u just have a blown fuse. Nothing more

[xmartiin]

Thanks for the reply everyone! Here is the status!


Forgive my lack of knowledge, I learn from my mistakes. I assume that I am not replacing the right fuse and that their is a battery fuse? I tried looking for one following the positive wire but can't seem to find one in the battery area. I also changed all of the fuses I could find in the ECM unless i'm not looking at the right place either.

[saeedg48]

possibly popped a fuse?

[xmartiin]

I believe so but I already replaced all the ones in the ECM or I think is the ECM. The 2nd video above is the test light checking the replaced fuses.
Is there a fuse in the battery area? I could of read somewhere that there is small 50 amp fuse connected to the positive but I try looking for one and couldn't find any.

[xmartiin]

After using the search button with the right keywords... I think it's going to be a new distribution box since it can only be replaced as a whole. What do you guys think?

[kouhii]

Before you start replacing fuses. Make sure you replace the fuses with the correct current rating or else you might start a fire.

I would be very careful with that thing you're using test the fuses. You might short some connections out and be in a worst situation. Visually look at the fuses, you can tell if they're "open."

[xmartiin]

Thanks for the reply! I replaced them all with the same ratings. I used the light to test what you see in the video.. But you're right and it can worst the situation. I had no other lead at the time and it was the only thing that came to mind and my only replies I had was to check fuse and ECU.

[SenorFunkyPants]

I would have thought the best thing to do would be to call someone who knows what they are doing before you cause some expensive damage with your random tinkering.
Not trying to be harsh but really it sounds like you are well out of your depth.

[Mike V8]

Yikes! That sucks! Hope the problem is resolved soon!

[Mr. ///M3 RD]

Originally Posted by SenorFunkyPants

I would have thought the best thing to do would be to call someone who knows what they are doing before you cause some expensive damage with your random tinkering.
Not trying to be harsh but really it sounds like you are well out of your depth.

I have to agree ^^^ with this. I once screwed up on a cloth dryer issue took the thing apart to trace the no heat issue ... then my wife ordered me to stand down called the service man ... the service man put the dryer back together again then went to his truck got a new circuit board ... changed the board made out the bill handed it to my wife and whispered to her

"Next time tell your hubby not to touch it call us and the bill would have been $150- less"

That is why I never ever touch anything again around the house and drive cars that have 4 year warranties ... well except for our old 1987 535is love to play around with that babe

[bigjae1976]

How did you not have a fuse on the amp's power wire from that battery? No offense, that is plain idiotic. You would have saved yourself the grief.

Did you check the battery voltage? A test light won't tell you much. You should be using a multimeter.

Is your amp's power wire wired directly to the battery? If so, I would think your battery is fried.

[Boostin FD]

there is shitload of fuses behind the glovebox on passenger side... open the glovebox and remove the back door by turning the 2 side pins... then you can check each one of those and replace the blown ones...

[hlmiii]

Originally Posted by bigjae1976

How did you not have a fuse on the amp's power wire from that battery?
Is your amp's power wire wired directly to the battery? If so, I would think your battery is fried.

The first post made it clear that the amp was wired backwards. It is possible that this could have torched some part of the component circuitry from the inverted DC power. The subsequent spark situation - without evidence of a blown fuse - would support that possibility.

A fuse will break a circuit that is running too much current. It will not break a circuit running at nominal current with reversed polarity. (The caps, LED's, diodes and chips will do that. Unfortunately ... )

[FVM3]

fuse

[1sikbmr]

I've done this before on my e60. I fried the amp but thankfully I had a fuse between the battery and amp so when it happened it fried the fuse. but not so lucky on my friends car we had to take off the battery and let the car sit there for a long time then put the battery back in and everything was fine. but most likely you blew some fuses

[bigjae1976]

Originally Posted by hlmiii

The first post made it clear that the amp was wired backwards. It is possible that this could have torched some part of the component circuitry from the inverted DC power. The subsequent spark situation - without evidence of a blown fuse - would support that possibility.

A fuse will break a circuit that is running too much current. It will not break a circuit running at nominal current with reversed polarity. (The caps, LED's, diodes and chips will do that. Unfortunately ... )

Seriously? That is DEAD WRONG!

If he reverses the polarity, the fuse will blow. Why would it not blow? If a bare +12v wire touches ground, the fuse blows. Car audio 101...wire a fuse within 18" of the battery on your positive wire.

I've reversed wires before. It happens. But I've never fried anything because I fuse any positive leads which tie into the car's wiring.

A fuse won't blow from excessive current until it reaches about 200% of the fuse rating...doubt that happened.

[kouhii]

There's a good chance your car is still okay. When you reverse the polarity on an electronics device all it does is reverse the direction of current flow. There's a chance your AMP has an ESD diode which might have been biased on in this case shorting your positive (12V?) to ground (negative) and the fuse will be zapped.

Have you tried one of those tools that scans the car for fault code? If you can still read something then I think your car is still okay. Just need to hunt for that dead fuse.

[xmartiin]

Problem solved! I replaced the power distribution box $68 (61 14 6 971 370) and everything is back to normal. Only thing needed to be done was to set the time again! Thanks everyone who posted.