Urgent help - Electrics are down

[biscuit]

Hi all,

Basically my battery died yesterday and the total donkey who offered to jump me put the leads the wrong way round and now my car is dead I think (I didn’t seem him attached the leads as I was in the car)

What would I need to change in order to get it running based on:

Lights/horn still work
The car turns over and starts, but blows the ‘DOME’ fuse (in the engine bay fuse box) every time, then it won’t re-start until you replace the fuse
Cat temperature warning light and battery light are constantly on (ECU/ABS light go out as usual) when the car is running
My Viper Immobilizer is dead (fuses are ok, so not sure if this is a problem with the DOME fuse), but it does work when DOME fuse is replaced

I wonder if I try my mates EP91 V OEM ECU that this might show up what else is wrong. I am gutted, I don’t know whether to break it now or try and fix it. Anything else that might be wrecked

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[bongskag]

post this in electrical section of Modification/ Technical Questions,

 

[Rory]

Your alternator sounds goosed. IIRC my brother did the same thing on his mini years ago and im sure we had to replace the alternator.

 

[dac69er]

does sound very much like the alternator is buggered. probably just the regulator part which is interchangeable with one off another alternator.

 

[biscuit]

I did manage to get it started, but it died at the top of the road. Do you think that's it?

Why the hell does it keep blowing the 'DOME' (WTF is that?) fuse?

ECU damage likely? Anything else might be broken?

Thanks chaps so far

 

[biscuit]

Looking through some DOME fuse threads, it makes sense – When we got the car running (charged correctly) it ran for around 2 minutes, when I stopped at a junction it died (alternator broken, ran out of charge), the lights then wouldn’t come on, which is due to the DOME fuse being blown from what I can gather. The indicators/hazards etc still worked.

Any idea what might cause the DOME fuse to blow, what exactly does it control? When I change it, the car turns over, when the car cuts out (due to lack of charge) it pops and I have to change it.

Is there a larger relay/fuse before the DOME fuse that might have popped hence the DOME one going every time on startup?

I can do most things, but electrics scare me!

 

[weeJohn]

Get the battery issue sorted first then tackle it. The dome fuse is used a permanent supply for the radio memory as well as a few other things, so pull the radio plug off first.