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Changed the battery and made a Huge Mistake, please help

Created April 21, 2008, at 10:17 am by ec6863

ok, so i bought an 05 civic hybrid recently and i noticed that the battery was old, i took it to autozone and they tolld me i needed a new one, (after trying to charge it of course) long story short, i go in to plug in the new battery and i cross the cables!!!... yes i know how stupid, the thing is i blew up a couple of fuses (im not sure which ones yet) but what did happen is that right away the car did not start, so i had to change the battery fuse, once i did the car came back on BUT NOW THE CHECK ENGINE LIGH AND IMA is on, also the radio and keyless entry are not working... we tried doing a diagnostic for the check engine light but even the plug in wouldnt work, at that point i was suggested to change one of the Relays in the car, So i did and the electric locks now work, but the engine light is still on and the radio is not working.. my guess is, i blew up a couple other fuses.... any suggestions on what to do now?

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MSantos
Senior Member

3 years ago

Sorry to hear about your bad fortune. :(

Anyhow, take it to Honda for a full HDS diagnostics. Unless you are OK with the idea of spending time and money in a trial and error approach, I suggest you cut your losses and take it to the people that at least have the means of knowing what has failed.

There's a pretty good chance that one or more of the IPU modules have been damaged with the power reversal, and I would not even take a chance of powering the car backup until it is looked at. Damages of this kind tend to ripple to other "still working modules" and given their cost I would rather have the issue addressed professionally.

Cheers;

MSantos

Anonymous

3 years ago

What ever you do, DON'T COME CLEAN! Just say it died and see if they cover it!

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Mendel Leisk
Senior Member

3 years ago

Why the hell don't they put one fuse at the absolute "head of the stream", for this sort of contingency. I know, likely it would be about as big as the battery.

Anyway, hope it works out for you.

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MSantos
Senior Member

3 years ago

Mendel:

A fuse will not prevent the initial damage due to power reversal - all it can do is prevent further downstream damage due to an unmanaged current load.
The type of components needed to prevent this kind of damage would be equivalent to those used in industrial power control typically high powered controlled rectifiers and similar active control circuits.

Today's hybrids are not designed to include this type of protection, and that is why it is important to be careful when working around hybrid vehicle systems as so much bad stuff can happen in case of a mistake.

Cheers;

MSantos

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