Crossed +- jumpers, cars stuffed.

[Veilside R33]

hey guys, hoping you can shed some light on this situation 4 me.

my battery has been going flat on and off for the last few months(usually only once every few weeks) anyway the last few days after i jump started it it was fine but as soon as i turned the car off, when i tried to restart it the alarm would go off(had to turn it off under bonnet) and the car shut down, so anyway yesteday was the last time i was going to jump start it to get it home then i was going to get a new battery. however i attached my +- leads to my batt then stupidly without looking i accidentally touched the other +- clips together, i turned around a second later and saw them smoking (one lead melted off the clip )

my friend who was helping jump start mine had his own leads so i attached them to mine and his car then went to reactivate the alarm but i noticed smoke started pouring out from the boot. i quickly disconected the leads but noticed that the + clip from my batt had slipped up and touched the wiring going to my rear wiper, it melted the wiring and one or two lil plastic bits. At this stage i was freaking out so i just called the NRMA, when the guy came out he refused to touch the car because he said the NRMA could be blamed for the damage (fair enough i thought) so he called a tow truck to come take the car to an autoelec, but he said i could have fried the ECU, alternator, starter motor etc...

now it is my understanding that there is a sort of cut off fuse that stops the this happening in R33's so that would mean all i will need is a new battery right? as no further damage could be done? except replacing the wires to the rear wiper.

am i wrong?

the other thing i noticed was that my stereo still worked after all of this happened (i was listening to it while waiting for the truck) so thats a good sign right?

anyway can you shed any light on the situation? have i only stuffed the battery or have i done some serious damage?

btw the reason the battery was running down was due to the alarm i had put on a few months ago, and my parkers were permanently on while the car was on(i think they cross wired someting)

and to make matters worse they snapped my front bar (NIZMO) while they were putting it on the truck and dont want to pay for it cause they said there was already a tiny crack there and it was gonna snap eventually anyway :bs!:

sorry for the essay guys, thanks for your help!

[ylwgtr2]

why dont you jump start under the bonnet instead of going direct to the battery?Check your fusible links....they may be blown...

[hippy]

let me be the first to say DUH!!! ... anyways i've jump started my 33 (when i had it) many times as i had battery issues too ... and i happened to do a few stupid things (not as stupid as you) ... but you will be surprised at how good the electrical system is ... i doubt the ecu would be fried ... i'm sure everything will be fine with a new battery ... if something is wrong with wiper .. i'd go take a look at the control board that controls that wiper ... for me i had my left door central locking stuff up, i located the board and simply got another one for like 40 bucks, switched it in a woala ... all perfect again ...

[Veilside R33]

i didnt even know i could jump it from the engine bay?

the car is at everlast automotive and they r doing a qoute on the damage. but he called me this morning at 8am to tell me he was getting under way, 7.5hours later still no word!! im getting worried now that i may get taken for a ride. even after 7.5hours if there was lots wrong im sure they'd know all of the probs by now?

[Amaru]

i didnt even know i could jump it from the engine bay?

the car is at everlast automotive and they r doing a qoute on the damage. but he called me this morning at 8am to tell me he was getting under way, 7.5hours later still no word!! im getting worried now that i may get taken for a ride. even after 7.5hours if there was lots wrong im sure they'd know all of the probs by now?

take it to ed... trust me *cough*

[Hiroshima Screamer]

had the similar deal happen to me, i too thought it was the ecu but it turned out to be couple fuses and new battery terminal all was good

[croat]

I had 3 wires coming out from my air flow meter for what reason i dont know, bought it like that. anyways one night these wires crossed (happened a few times before) and shut down the car. Only thing was that the car didnt start this time. later to find that i fired the ecu

[Veilside R33]

ok jst got it back from the autoelec.

damage nothing like as bad as i thought. $386 which was mostly for labour, also including a new sealed heavy duty battery, the reason my battery was going flat was because i had an alarm put on and it was just sucking enough juice to drain the batt.

so its all good now except my left power window doesnt work, which is really pissing me off!!!!

[Jay95R33]

Good Stuff Andrew.

It could've been heaps worse.

J

[INASNT]

ok jst got it back from the autoelec.

damage nothing like as bad as i thought. $386 which was mostly for labour, also including a new sealed heavy duty battery, the reason my battery was going flat was because i had an alarm put on and it was just sucking enough juice to drain the batt.

so its all good now except my left power window doesnt work, which is really pissing me off!!!!

Same thing happens with my alarm if i leave it on and dont start the car for a few days. I had to jump start my car a few times also but was always carefully not to do what you did

Theres this thing you can buy, cant remember what its called, that you attach to your battery and plug into mains power, and when it detects your battery voltage dropping it gives it a small powerup to get the voltage up. This is good if you leave your car with the alarm on for long periods of time without starting it.

[wilch]

Yep there is. One example is by a brand by the name of "Battery Fighter". It can be bought at Jaycar electronics, and most Battery World's.

See this thread for links and details:

http://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=222436

wil..

[Lepperfish]

HEy, I have had battery issues also in the last couple of days,

When you jump an R33 its best to do it from the engine bay, take of the little cover thing and add the red jumper lead to the + and the black one to the -- a little black metal earth.

Funny story for ya, was trying to kick my 33 over from a jump from a series 5 turbo RX7, it would give it enough power to turn on the dash lights, but nothing else, when all else failed, I used my G/F's barina. It jump started it no worries..!!!

[Zagan]

I've noticed in the last few years, Some cars won't allow you to use them to jump start other cars.

The RX7 might have been one of these cars, or the battery was next to dead on it.

Anyway, should use a surge protector and you can get jump leads that have that but will also have a power cut in case you end up touching wires together etc and you won't get those problems in the first place.

[Lepperfish]

Well the RX7 is classed as a 1.2L 2 Cylinder, It definetly gave it charge because the revs on the RX7 dropped and was enough to light up my dash lights but not to start it..

The battery was fine also..