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HELP!!!!! car is completely dead


cmmd11483

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Went in to the petrol station to fill up, did so, came back out and the car was completely dead. Turning the key and there were no lights, no starter motor, nothing. Alarm system is also non functional. As it's an auto, so I used the shift lock release to put it into neutral and managed to roll the car into a parking space.

 

I checked all the fuses under the bonnet and everything is fine. It's like there is no battery whatsoever. The rear brake lights still work but I'd imagine they have a seperate back up source in case of emergency towing.

 

So I called my dad who came down with jump leads to see if I could at least get some lights to come on but again nothing. It's almost as if the car has electrically imobilised itself. So I had to leave the car, no alarm, with the doors manually locked in a shell garage, in a not so great part of town.

 

Has anyone got any ideas as to what might have happened?????

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First thing, did you in-form the petrol station that you were having to leave it there ?, and is it a 24 hour petrol station/

 

Second thing, are you not a member of the R.A.C or A.A ?

 

Its a wierd one for nothing to work at all, so the car un-locked fully ok right?, when you put the key in the ignition, did you get anything ?

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I managed to roll it into a parking space that had local cars in it just away from the main forecourt.

 

I drove up to the pump, turned the car off, push the filler cap open. Filled up with petrol.

Went into the garage to pay and pushed the lock button on the key fob and the lights didn't flash as usual. That's wierd I thought.

 

Got back out to the car which was still unlocked and it was completely dead, nothing happening whatsoever.

The car has a new cat 1 alarm fitted (JDM) so has a seperate key fob, it still works fine as it's LED is flashing when I press the button.

 

When I got the car parked, I manually locked both doors so it's secure.

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Maybe, it's been fine since I picked it up last week though. It's seems strange to me that the car would be completely electrically dead if it was immobilised, surely the dash lights would still come on.

 

I have a spare key fob so I'll take that with me in the morning and see if it works.

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funny cos when i got mine and it had a new cat1 alarm on the same thing happened to me whenever i got out at petrol stations, cash machines etc. If i was any length of time out of the car without locking it immediately it immobilised itself. first time it happened i thought i was gonna die! Thought it was just knackered. Nearly called the breakdown guys! I used the little overide stick thing that comes with the alarm but eventually realised that just by putting the key in the ignition and pressing the alarm fob same as when i unlock the car is what I had to do. I'm sure yours is probably a different thing and you will have tried that but that's what happened to me.

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Thanks nixy,

 

Mines does that all the time too, but the dash lights still come on and when I hit the unlock button as you describe the car will start again. This time there was nothing happening on the dash.

 

I'm going to go down first thing in the morning and see what's happening when it's light.

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I'm just reading the manual just now. I'll take it down in the morning with me.

 

Cheers guys for the replies. It's under a 3 month dealer warranty so it'll get fixed eventually.

 

Allways good to have bud, no worries then, you should get it all sorted :thumbs:

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I managed to go and get the car home this morning. Beforehand I went to work and pick up my multimeter and some tools.

 

First off checked the battery, 12.3V, fine.

 

So I removed the positive so I could start to buzz the connections back to the main wiring loom. It was open circuit. I then noticed an out of place bolt on the top on the battery connection. Basically there was a broken metal connection that someone had screwed a bolt into to remake. With the kind of currents flowing through this connection and the heat generated the bolt and metal had quickly oxidised and became insulated. Hence no power to any of the car including the ECU and ECM. Thank F**K it happened when I had stopped for petrol and not when I was on the motorway or something. So I rebridged the connection more securely and the car sprang back to life.

 

Needless to say I'll be absolutley shafting the garage for this. At least one years warranty I think.

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The install is powered off the rear power outlet which is 10A fused and ignition active so the install will not be drawing any current when the car is off. The battery when I looked today was at 14V.

 

I would strongly recommend running a separate power feed for the install rather than pulling it from the rear power outlet.

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