:( Accidently tried to jump my car with the cables crossed. Now it wont start!

[soka]

Hi

I accidently tried to start my car with the jumper cables on the wrong terminals and now my car wont start! Everything seems to work fine inside, all the guages, switches, lights and the car will turn over it just wont start.

Anyone have any ideas about this? Im thinking the fuel pump might not be getting power because the car is turning over strongly. I checked all the fuses i could find (engine bay, under the dash) and they all look okay. Is there something I might be missing? Is there a way i can check and see if its the fuel pump? Is there a fuse for the fuel pump in some secret location?

I have a 91 240sx coupe with a 96 sr20det and a power FC ecu.

I searched the forum for info and found this but im not sure what their final resolution was..zer...d=138

If anyone has anyideas I would really appreciate them! I'm about ready to have it towed to a mechanic..

THanks!

Stephen

[jamied311]

i wish i could help you...

[180fan]

check fuses yet?

[soka]

Yeah.. I checked all the fuses i could find. Still the same.. cranks but does not start. I just had the car towed to a mechanic... they didnt look too happy to see me..

If anyone still has any ideas it would really be helpful.. It would be great if i could give the mechanics some ideas. Hopefully cut down on some of thier exploration time.

[NISTECH]

If your 100% all the fuses in the fuse box in the drivers kick panel, in the fuse box under the hood, and all the fuse links are ok I am leaning to you fried your ECM. When a car wont start you guys need to learn to do the basic checks. Like does it have spark? does it have fuel pressure,what is that pressure? Those things are important for a car to run and should be the first things you check.

[sunnys14]

yeah, check all fuses.

[Florida240sx]

ecu is fried most likely.Whenever car is started backwards that always seems to be the case. Pull your spark plug and see if you get any spark. Then check your fuel pressure.

[NISTECH]

ecu is fried most likely.Whenever car is started backwards that always seems to be the case..

Not true. I have yet to replace an ecu after a slase man jumps one of our lot cars backwards. It usually takes out the alt or main fuse link. Otherwise the cars are typically fine.

[soka]

Hey guys

Thanks for all your ideas. I will let you know what happens.. the car is at a mechanic now.. They will have time to look at it on monday.. I will pass your suggestions on to them thanks.

As far as the ECU being fried I hooked up the stock ECU and it still did the same thing(not starting) so hopefully nothing is wrong there.

I did not check spark or if fuel.. I really wouldnt feel comfortable doing on my own anyways.. heh I've already caused too much damage!

[CybeRise]

I did that once, only my alternator got screwed

[soka]

Well... the mechanics I took it to couldnt figure it out.. now I'm out 300 bucks for them looking around for 6 hours and 100 bucks for towing... wow... that hurts... they wanted 1600 bucks to redo the whole harness.. wow.. to their credit the wiring was already pretty messed up in there to begin with..

now the car is going to sit for a bit then im going to tow it to signal auto in torrance and have them redo the harness for a bit less than 1600.. Sure hope that fixes it.

Pretty amazing crossing 2 wires for a couple seconds can do this much damage to a car..

thanks again for your help...

Now im gunna go throw up and cry.

[DRAGBLISS]

check the battery and the computer. doing something like that well burn up the engine dionostic computer. they need to check the computer code. if it does not give a signal you well need a new computer.

[NISTECH]

Where is woodland hills?

[soka]

Woodland hills is in the San Fernando vally north of L.A.

http://maps.yahoo.com/maps_res...=&qty=

[NISTECH]

We have a woodalnd not far from sac. didnt know if it was close. I was gonna make an offer to help ya fix it if you were close to me. LA basin= not close.

[soka]

Hey thanks for the offer.. Yeah Woodland hills is a bit far from you..DAMN! Uh one more quick question.. if you dont mind. I got the car back.. its sitting a garage..heh. Lets just say...hope, the ecu is undamaged.. I was wondering... is there something that the ecu uses to talk to the rest of the car that might be damaged? something that talks to the ignition or the fuel pump? Could it be possible preventing the ecu from talking to those things? Does the ecu talk directly to those components? i wanted to try and check that on my own. If there is such a thing.. do you know where it should be located? Sorry if this is a really dumb question but i dont know how these things work.

Thanks

[180fan]

easy to test the fuel pump. put the car into the last click (the one before the starter activates) and you will hear the fuel pump. Ignition, you will see your instrument cluster light up and everything else will be on, just your motor won't be spinning.

[NISTECH]

No your car does not have lan or can [ what newer cars use to communicate between each module] Yours is conventional ECM functions. My advice at this point is to start pin checking the ECM. Meaning get a volt meter out and start checking the powers and grounds to the ECM. Make sure they are all present. You will need a wiring diagram for your set up to do this. There will be 4 or 5 powers and the same amount of grounds. You do this check with the connector plugged in. You will be back probing the wiries in the connector.

You should also have a fuel pressure gauge to check for fuel pressure , a noid light to check for injector pulse and a spare spark plug to check for good spark.

You need to determine if all the above is ok. when you come across the fuel and spark tests you need to direct your diagnosis in the direction of which ever fails. Make sure you do all 3 tests regardless. After you do those tests you will then move to the ECM pin checks. Post back your findings.

[soka]

Okay I'm not exactly sure how to check spark... but i pulled out the spark plug wire, put an old spark plug in, then placed the wire so i could see the spark plug from the drivers seat then tried to start the car. The car cranked but I did not see any sparks. i took the spark plug out and just looked inside the wire, tried to start the car... and i still didnt see anything. does this mean i dont have any spark? gulp... am i screwed? Is my ecu toast?

I went to pep boys and they didnt have a noid light but I did pick up a volt meter. I havent had a chance to try the volt meter on anything... is there something i should test since im not seeing any spark?

thanks!

[NISTECH]

When checking for spark like that you need to make sure the threaded section of the plug is touching a good ground. Otherwise the spark will not jump the gap in the plug.

Try auto zone on the noid light. I know they have one.

[soka]

hey!

Okay i tried to check my spark again.. i pulled out the wire..attached a spark plug to the wire..then wraped a thin wire around the threaded part of the spark plug,then hung that wire from the metal part of the hood.. Is a metal hood an okay ground? The wires i had were not very long. Anyways it still did not spark.

I also picked up a noid lite at autozone like you suggested. They did not have one for an sr20det..heh so i picked up on for a bosch port fuel system.if you look on this link here

http://www.chain-auto-tools.co...E.htm

its the BOSCH PFI .. the connecters on the lite are 2 small round pins that are close together. THis was NOT the same as the pins for my injectors.. they are flat and a bit larger. The noid lite did fit into my injecter plug though.. I'm not sure how good it was connected to the plug since the pins are round on the light but it did seem pretty snug inside the injector plug.. like it wasnt loose or anything. It did not light up when i tried to start the car. I flipped it around to make sure the pins were in the right sockets..still nothing.

what do you think??? Am I still not doing this good enough? Is there something else I should check?

Thanks!

[soka]

Could it be a relay?? Is there one in particular I should check?

[NISTECH]

They dont even have a nissan specific noid light..I use a GM one that just fits in the plug, it doesnt fit perfect either but it does fit kinda snug.

This is not good news, you have niether spark nor pulse. This indicates something may have been fried. The ECM isnt the only possibility. Could be the crank angle sensor too. Or as you say a relay. What year is the engine of the car your working on. I have a service manual for the SR20. I would need to go over the diagrams and see where you could probe to determine what might have smoked. You would need to use your volt meter to do the checks.

[soka]

The engine is a notch top sr20det.. so thats s14 96 or later. It has the vvt intake cam and the t28 turbo. Its in a 91 240sx coupe.

Does it matter which injector plug you put the noid light in or which plug you check spark from?

I did put in the stock sr20det ECU and it had the same results..as far as the car not starting.. i have not checked the car for spark or injector activity with the stock ecu. I was told though by the shop that installed the power FC that the stock ecu should work. Hopefully this means its not the ecu.

thanks for the help!

[soka]

Anymore ideas?? Im ready to check stuff out if you can think of anything.

Thanks!

[soka]

Bump to the top..

Nistech?? Am I SOL??? I'm having my car towed tomorrow but if you have any last minute suggestions id love to hear them..

THis will be my last post on the matter if I cant get it resolved tonight.

Thanks man.

[NISTECH]

Sorry man have had other issues keeping me busy lately. Sorry for leaving ya hangin. It sounds as though your ecm is ok. It doesnt matter which injector connector you plug into to see if you just have pulse. but not a bad idea to check all of them.