URGENT!!! Whats wrong with my friends car?!?!

[Devonakaozzy]

okay, she left her lights on at the good ol walmart the other day and her friend attempted to jump her car. key word here, attempted. in the process she put the positive on the negative and vice versa on her car, but matched the terminals on the car with the good battery. now the thing is, we replaced the battery and we can turn her headlights on, but none of the dash lights come on, and it wont turn over.

im thinking she may have fried some wiring or a fuse, but that wouldn't let the lights come on would it? also it could have fried the ECU, but wouldn't it still turn over then? I need all the help I can get because I need to know whats wrong before her car gets towed and before we try and buy useless items. TIA!

 

[fowler]

the best u can do is just check all the fuses in the box
note there may be 2 fuse boxes
one in the engine compartment for the big stuff and one in the cabin for the rest

this is why i hate electronics
it would be alot of things
anything from the new battery being dead
to a blown ecu

the head lights will come on because they are a differant circuit
and are controled by a simple switch and relay
i bet all the lights work if u try them

the ecu should be safe being protected by diodes and fuses
did u charge the new battery
or have u treid to jump start the car the correct way

its bad to jump start any new car let alone the wrong way
when u connect the leads dont match all the terminals
it goes negative on dead car to earth (engine block, chassis) on good car
then posative dead ar to posative on live car

if u cant find an issue then the best i can surgest is to hot wire the car
turn the key to ignition and put 12 v straight to the signal wire on the starter
that will make some cars start but for some the ecu has too much control

 

[fowler]

I have done it by accident when I was young

But that was on an old 75series Toyota landcruiser deisel
Not a single micro chip in it

Lucky it even had a wireless
So didn't do anything other than heat up the jumper leads

 

[J_Walker]

I blew a fuse on my motorcycle once jumping it due to dead battery. [something else was wrong causing the battery to drain, cant remember the name right now..] but I replaced all the fuse, and was going mad, could not get the **** thing to start.. well come to find out there was a fuse in the wire assembly coming off from the gas tank [for the fuel gauge] and it had blown, never the less. make sure the car doesn't have some gimp fuse hidden somewhere! check the manual!

 

[crazyman]

If a fusible link is fried, it's acceptable to use the next gauge smaller wire as a field repair. However, OEM fusibles have insulation that appears undamaged if the wire melts. That way, it can't ground out and short and start a fire..

 

[fowler]

If they are anything like the CAT ones
They are a **** idea

Hard to test
Hard to replace

What's wrong with a circuit breaker or fuse

 

[Doc Sprocket]

Beats me. I hate the dang things, too.