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okay so I just installed an aftermarket battery and started car up yesterday and when I turned the lights on the engine cut off. Found out I had a wire going to ground that should've been hot and I got that fixed and tried to start engine but started doesn't engine when I go to turn the key. I can jump the starter and make it turn but the engine still doesn't start. Cranks but no start. When I hooked a scanner up it said no communication with ecm. Was wondering if it was in some kind of safe mode or something. Very confused any help would be appreciated.
Last edited by tim.oconnor2; 03-22-2016 at 09:33 PM.
If you hooked up the battery backwards then you likely shorted something, possibly the ECU. You need to have it checked by someone who knows what they are doing.
Found out I had a wire going to ground that should've been hot and I got that fixed
Which wire? The + and - connections are different sizes; so in theory you would have been mashing one down and crushing the other one to get it to tighten and I think would have noticed that it was unusually hard to install.
Start with the basics, remove the "-" battery wire from the battery and check all the fuses/relays. Maybe you'll get lucky and just popped one.
In my long life as a car dealer and buy many cars from people I have seen this problem before. Best case scenario is you popped a very large fuse underneath the hood in the fuse box. Worst case scenario as you have fried parts in the ECU. But you don't have to throw the ECU away you can simply replace the capacitor is that your blew and it should work.
Start with replacing the fuses that are obviously blown and that should be a very large one the largest in the box. If you have a multimeter test light test to see if you have power there now. Car should start and run fine. ))
Yes very good you explain where the fuses are which I haven't actually looked on this exact car yet, I haven't had a need. Thanks for making it more clear for him. And now to my mistake I meant replace the capacitors . I've actually had this happen before if it bypasses and jumps over the fuse, which is not really likely but can happen, Most often The capacitors will be the things that pops in the ECU
And if you replace them it very well could work again.
I would start with the largest capacitors first.
I just laugh because replacing anything on this ECU's board would be quite difficult and I doubt someone who can't hook up a battery right could manage micro soldering.
Any recommendations for a great, not good battery?
I need a little more output from mine with an added 10" sub, amplifier, fans, etc.. I was looking into what military grade batteries offer and have checked out the Optima's. I want a great battery and was hoping someone could give me some direction.
I use an Optima yellow-35 and have a tendency to use my car as an outside radio(with amp and sub) when working on this PoS truck I picked up last year. Mostly for a few hours at a time.
I've also heard great things about Odyssey as 9k mentioned above.
I had two Optima's in two years, both replaced under warranty but i got tired of hassling with them. They have gotten a real bad rep in the Jeep community as well.
Yeah that battery is pre Optima being sold. They were never the same after. They used to be big in the offroad community but quality took a **** when they were sold.
Any recommendations for a great, not good battery?
I need a little more output from mine with an added 10" sub, amplifier, fans, etc.. I was looking into what military grade batteries offer and have checked out the Optima's. I want a great battery and was hoping someone could give me some direction.
Thanks
I'm sure you've done something by now. But for future reference, capacitor is always better for a sound system than a better battery.
I have two 12" kickers pushing like 1200 watts at 1 ohm and I just hooked up a 10 farad capacitor (I have a napa battery cause my battery got destroyed when the car was in the shop and that's all they would replace it with). That's way more than I need a 1.5 or 2 farad would work but I got the 10 for like $50 so it was a steal.
A capacitor will give you better sound quality as well as taking the load off your alternator. Even if you get a great battery when you have your base turned up and it hits your putting quite an extra load on your alternator. This will wear it down faster, with your particular setup probably not much. With mine, my alternator would have lasted like a month.
Last edited by NavyScubaSteve; 10-11-2016 at 12:33 PM.