Bigpower

It's been a troubling car weekend here, firstly whilst at work yesterday, I get a call from the Mrs saying she was driving her car from home, no more than 50 yards, radio blaring lights on etc, when the car suddenly suffered a total loss of electric. The odd thing was, the engine continued running perfectly. She turned the car around and left it at home before calling me. I reckoned on a duff battery and maybe a duff alternator. Went to it this morning, and it was dead as a door nail. I jumped started it off my car, and it seemed to run ok, but again no electrics. (I should add here that some sort of surge might have occurred because it fritzed my BM's heater control unit )
I got a battery from GSF hoping it would cure all ill's, but it's still fooked. Headlights work, horn works, no indicators, wipers, windows, locking, dashboard (It's one of those crazy Jap "Atari" style dashes.)
Dave J will kindly be running some tests in the week, but it does seem odd some electrics are working, and quite a lot are not. (Fuses checked and appear ok)
Anyone have any ideas? It's a 2001 Yaris SR (Jap built as opposed to Belgium or whatever)

PS Off to the seaside tomorrow to get a 2nd hand fix for the heater!

Is the car left outside ? With this freak rain we have been having, could it be some water getting in somewhere ?

Lose earth I bet, my GTR stopped working once, certain bits would work other wouldn't such as actually running! or like the scoob a buggered loom - I was missing a number of electrical systems until gary spotted a number of wires that had been worn through.

Running a comparison with my experience on the little french things, I would say a broken/corroded earth is highly probable. Clio 2`s have a small earth in the boot for the light wiring loom. This not only sends the lights into a world of their own but takes out most of the dash too. Also i have had on more than one occasion blocked drains on the scuttle panel which has caused the trapped water to seep in through the heater blower and bugger up the dash but this has never messed up the lights.

I expect its a stupid question Rob, And i am sure you are quite aware and therefore didn`t jump start the car with yours battery to battery?

100% he did Russ. Do you mean as opposed to jumping it off of a jump starter pack?

No modern stuff with ecu`s etc should be jump started directly from battery to battery. The earth cable should be earth to the car and not the battery. This will greatly reduce the risk of spiking and buggering up ecu`s.
I have had to repair several clios that have been fried and killed by direct jump starting. One guy even managed to fry the rav4 he was using to jump start from as well as the clio!

Is that should or shouldn't? Is that just French clutter or do you think the same for most/all modern cars?

IWANT1 wrote:Is that should or shouldn't? Is that just French clutter or do you think the same for most/all modern cars?

NEVER jump start ANY ecu equipped car with the jump leads wired directly from battery to battery. The earth lead from the good battery should be fixed to a good earth somewhere in the engine bay of the car being started. This should reduce the risk of spiking (Think of it like surge protection on your pc at home) Also remember to turn the ignition off of the car being started while you connect the jump leads.
I have heard that some modern cars don`t even like being started directly with jump packs - Gotta love modern car electronics!:rolleyes:

Another school day, couldn't start to count how many cars ive jumped the old way maybe iam just lucky to have never had a problem, done a bit of looking round the net and it looks like a few mixed reviews but quite a few do it the "new to me" way! cheers Russ.

Lol! Guess we all never stop learning!:thumbs:
And yes we all know you are a lucky (jammy) bugger!:D