jump leads and jump starting

On what? Bosch,Lucas and Nippondenso protect all their stuff.

ECU's generally.

Chris

Yep, I've not yet seen one of those killed by it. I've seen it fry a cheap radio, but that's it. Whose ECU?

Stepson worked for the AA, and VW assist. He had a number of ECU failures across a range of makes that appeared to be directly attributable to incorrect jump-starting.

My step-daughter's partner worked away for two weeks. When he came back, the battery on his VW T4 was flat. He jumped it from their car, and didn't know the proper procedure. As he disconnected the jump leads, the thing stopped, never to go again.

He had it towed to an independent VW specialist, who diagnosed ECU failure. It was not the first one they had seen under identical circumstances. He had his ECU repaired. Total cost was around 1,000UKP.

All Ford handbooks have detailed the risk, and the correct procedure, for just about as long as they've had ECU's.

TBH, it's so trivial to do it properly I can't see why you wouldn't.

Chris

I'm not surprised, given the number who will try and blame jump starting for unrelated faults.

And you can be sure it wasn't the failure of the ECU which caused the need for the jump start?

Well I have seen them where they've been connected + to - :-)

The number of what? Patrols? Customers?

Yep.

Chris

The number of what? Patrols? Customers?

Yep.

Chris

Well, I've got a 'BMW' ECU here and it does. As do all the others I've looked at.

Not if they get 'significant' warranty claims.

Pretty well all sensitive electronics in cars run off lower than 12 volts. And there are voltage regulators made specially for the spikes likely to be found in car systems. As well as other inexpensive protection methods.

Which would be how many roughly? Compared to an AA patrol for example?

I've never seen a warranty for anything that is valid if you have misused it, so why would they care?

I can understand your scepticism about this; I read of it in the hand book for my first "electronic" car, and had my doubts. I've subsequently seen enough evidence of it to realise that it is a very real possibility.

As the means of prevention is so simple, I can't see that it's a real issue.

Chris

Which would be how many roughly? Compared to an AA patrol for example?

I've never seen a warranty for anything that is valid if you have misused it, so why would they care?

I can understand your scepticism about this; I read of it in the hand book for my first "electronic" car, and had my doubts. I've subsequently seen enough evidence of it to realise that it is a very real possibility.

As the means of prevention is so simple, I can't see that it's a real issue.

Chris

And a surge protector helps here?

Customers.

You've obviously got more regard for the competence of 'AA patrols' than I have. My limited experience of them is why I'm no longer a member.

As I explained earlier, if you accept this principle of 'surges' then they can happen with a local fault not involving jump starting.

If it's a real possibility makers would take precautions in the equipment. Which they do.

There's no point in telling the average punter how to use jump leads 'safely' if it involves faffing about. They'll just forget it in the heat of the moment.

Do AA patrols take ECUs apart?

Nope. But there where a lot of faults!

Wouldn't have thought many do. Why?

Chris

So how do they know what's caused the damage?