Engine wont start after battery imploded
 

Well I thought I could do this one on my own, like the last 3-4 problems Ive ran into. But this is proving to be a challenge to me.

Basically what happened was I used a 01 alternator in my 97 body. Was going down the road, car had been running fine for 3 days but it smelt like burning sulfur. Suddenly the windshield wipers came on, obscenely fast, the speakers start having a lot of feedback, then BOOM, speakers crack, smoke comes out from under the dash and the engine stops. I stop, pop the trunk and find my battery like this:

Attachment 198165




Sooo..... the battery held up until 30 volts. Now Im trying to track down these problems of why my car wont start.

Got a new battery.
Check all fuses and replaced bad ones.
MS sends and receives data so its fine.
Cleaned the grounds

The car cranks over, so the battery is working, its just not firing :(. Could it of fried my coils? The engine was running fine while it started overcharging but I guess it could of shorted them out, even though they were brand new :(.

Any help is appreciated!

probably fired your coils

fuck..... I keep telling myself this isn't it because I just bought those.


Who else thinks its my coils? I got a friend helping me tomorrow to check for spark.

i wouldent doubt it if they were getting 30v. should check the injectors too.

If I were you , I would also pop the megasquirt out and inspect the board for any damage. Just because it will communicate doesn't necessarily mean that nothing was damaged. Things of note: Check the regulator and all capacitors. If it smells like fishes, you popped a capacitor.

Do you have anything regulating the voltage from the alternator?

Looks like bad voltage regulator to me. The sulfur smell is typical of an over charging battery. The big question will be what electronics got fried in the process. Good luck

That sucks, i dont know if i have extra coils at the house back home. I will holler at my brother and check. If they are there, i will have him bring them to an event. Remember, COPs are an option too ;)

The later alternators are regulated by the ecu. So unless you use the 01+ ecu or some external circuit the alternator wasn't being regulated at all. Hence the 30V. I don't know if there is a circuit for the MS that does this.

I swapped back to the 97 alternator.

Isnt the MS fused so it doesnt fry in a case like this?

Ill try to pin point the problem today :)

Fuses blow with current (amps) not voltage.

Main engine relay?