Hey i have an 03 Oz. Im deployed right now so my wife has the car. She recently changed the battery and hooked it up backwards.... I know women. But the car wont start now. She took it to a mechanic but he couldnt figure it out. He told her to try changing the front ecu chip so she did and still nothing . He checked fuses, fuel pump, spark plugs, the basic stuff but still no luck. Any ideas. Thanks

 

There is 3 things that make a car run, Compression, fuel and spark. If it ran fine before the reversed cable incident Im guessing your compression is still fine Unless it has somehow jumped time. This leaves fuel and spark. The mechanic must have missed something. I would say she should take it somewhere else and dont tell them what has been checked already.

If this was brought to me I would first do a comp test on all four cylinders. If thats fine I would check for sure if there is spark. There is a nice cheap tool called an inline spark checker you can get that will flash a little light everytime the coil sends the charge to the plug. If this checks out all that leaves is fuel. I would pull up the back seat cushion (real quick and easy you just pull up on the front part. Then unscrew the four screws that hold the cover on for the fuel pump then try cranking on it to hear if the pump is working. If this is working then possibly injectors are not firing which could be a fuse, relay or she may simply fried the ecu with that little stunt.

 

more symptoms please...when you first turn the key to on, but not ignition, there's a lamp test in the dash and all the warning and indication lights come on for a second, if that doesn't happen your main ECU could be toast. I've seen that before...

 

Most mechanics will miss this but there is a fuse right on the positive battery terminal that is for the alternator. I would have them check to see if that it blown and go from there. My bet is somewhere there is a blown fuse or a burnt up wire.

 

car will start without an alternator if the battery is new...it just won't run for very long..

the electricity takes many other paths to complete the circuit, and i doubt the alternator fuse would have anything to do with the starter/ignition, and also sending DC through a fuse in the wrong direction won't hurt it. I would lean more toward damage to sensitive circuits...not fuses.

 

Ok thanks for the input. So i asked her to put the key and turn all the lights come on and turn off. She said it cranking but it wont turnover to start. The mechanic replaced the starter and said the alternator was good.

 

Also she said that when she turn the key the headlights and emergency lights came on and would not turn off, until she took the key out.

 

does the cam gear move? maybe the timing belt is stripped or broken..

 

im not sure but it was running fine before she connected the battery wrong. the timming belt was replaced last year.but ill ask her also the spark plug and coils were replaced and fuel pump was replaced last year too. i just remembered that.

 

any SES/CEL?