Hey, I had some issues today with my battery.

Had someone help me jump my car, but the fvcking idiot put the cables on the wrong terminals on his car, and possibly fried my alternator and my HVAC. Ended up burning the hell outta my hands in the process, as I had to yank the cables off my battery.

In any case, since then, my radio won't turn on, and my AC controls won't work. I can press tons of buttons, does nothing. Randomly, the fan will turn up and down.

My first thought was that it blew my HVAC, but theres a possibility it could be a fuse.. right?

Any other ideas? I'm going to take my car to the local stealership have them look at the alternator and all the rest of the electronics, and quote me a new HVAC if I need it, but at that point I'll probly just got aftermarket.

Everything else works fine as far as I can tell, trunk opens, windows and doors work, lights, gauges, heated seats, seat controls, mirror, everything I can think of.

Thanks for the help


FYI, I also posted this in the tech section too so mods please don't move/delete for a few days so I can get ideas


Pete

 

You're lucky the battery didn't also explode! As you know, the devices in a car are designed to run on positive and negative DC current and when the cables are connected backwards, you usually blow the most vulnerable components such as the radio/CD/AC system. tThe interconnected radio/CD/AC system is extremely sensitive (and very poor quality on the G-- which is why mine has been replaced 2X in 1 year). The damage would likely be in this unit and not elsewhere in the system (used costs for unit are generally <$150). It's also possible that the alternator diodes could be damaged (current is uni-directional on them).

I think Nissan has a Safety Relay installed to protect the main Powertrain Control Module (PCM). This relay is wired backwards so that if someone hooks up jumper cables backwards, the relay opens and cuts the PCM off preventing serious damage to other electronic parts.

For the future, you can buy Smart Booster cables to prevent this from happening again: http://www.drivingcomfort.com/smart-booster-cables.cfm

 

Thanks a lot for the valuable info, I just got a Yellowtop two weeks ago, so i'm going to be pissed if I have to get a new one of those as well...

So your opinion is the HVAC is probably fried?

Also, if the AC controller is fried, is that the unit that is on the HVAC? or is there a seperate computer that probably fried? Anyone know?

 

This one one of Nissan's engineering nightmares/flaws (in addition to the location of the seat controls in the older models, and a host of other goodies)- creating a system wherein the radio/CDplayer/AC were somehow interconnected.

Does the car start on its own, even if you replace the battery? Will it stay on for an extended period?

From what you describe, the unit may be fried. If you can install one yourself, get one off of Ebay or at a salvage yard. The Dealership will definitely cost 50% more than necessary and may insist on a new one.

 

well, the car didn't start after I ran it for 15 minutes, but it started on it's own after I ran it for an hour. It runs fine, idles a bit low at about 300RPM, but it sat idling for 35 minutes just fine. Had a friend of mine take a tester to the battery, appears the alternator is running OK, as it reads 12.1 volts off 14 with the car on

 

Check all the fuses and the fusible links. I once did the same thing to my last car (a R32 Nissan Skyline) and blew most of the fuses. Once I replaced them all, and put in a new battery, it worked perfectly. At least you haven't blown the ECU.

 

Yeah, that's a relief..

Thanks for all the info everyone

 

ProfanityPete wrote: well, the car didn't start after I ran it for 15 minutes, but it started on it's own after I ran it for an hour. [So the battery takes a charge and the alternator appears to be operating for now-- good news!] It runs fine, idles a bit low at about 300RPM, but it sat idling for 35 minutes just fine. Had a friend of mine take a tester to the battery, appears the alternator is running OK, as it reads 12.1 volts off 14 with the car on. [Now to handle that pesky AC issue. It could well be a fuse; however, if you read through many of the posts here, you'll find that lots of folks have problems with the entire unit and eventually give up and replace it. Good luck!]

 

by whole unit, do you mean the controller? or the actual AC unit?

 

charging current should be at least 13.5 i believe if the car is running, 12.1 seems low

 

12.1 is when the car is off
14 is when the car is on

 

Just the controller module, which is housed in the same area as the radio/CD player.

 

ok, so if I got the jdm dd, then I wouldn't need anything else, right?

 

Could be a more serious problem like a BCM.

 

Well I Just checked the fuses, and everything was good there except the radio fuse, so i changed it out and viola the heat works, and the radio kinda works. So I'm going to see if it straightens itself out in a couple days, and then think about getting a DD. I was almost hoping it was the radio so I could get a DD, but glad that it's nothing serious. The car started just fine on it's own, and it's -2 this morning so that's a very good sign. I'm going to let the car idle for an hour to charge the battery up some more, and hopefully that's it!

Thanks for the info guys, I'll post again if I notice anything else wrong