jump start stalls donor car

sounds more like the leads were the wrong way around

Sounds like a short somewhere. You should have got a god almighty spark though.

The message from beerismygas contains these words:

Or you've connected the leads the wrong way round. Don't guess based on the colours of the wires connected to the batteries 'cos some firms use what to British eyes seem really odd colours - like black for positive.

And brown for negative. Which of course with unified European *mains* wiring is line - which most equate to positive.

Perhaps it's one thing EU regs should sort out - unified car battery wiring colours. It might well save a few nasty accidents.

And just to add one final point, you are trying to connect positive to positive, neg to neg? I have known people swear blind that you have to connect pos to neg. If you did do this, it would immediately stall the donor car, and probably take years off the life of the battery. Could also have damaged the alternator.

switched polarity? no its not that simple. i know the leads were on the correct polarity as i left them as they were connected and later the sick car started after the donor car was re-started and kept revved.

could there be a short somewhere? in the battery? in the sick car's wiring? how can i verify the presence of a short more scientifically? i have a digital multimeter.

on a car with no engine management computer, clocks or stereo(i have removed this as well), should i measure *any* current flow whatsover between the disconnected earth lead and the negativ terminal when the ignition is off? i will try measuring this tonight.

thx

In message , beerismygas writes

Standard practice for me is to rev the 'donor' car when the sick car is started - did you do this the first time?

i measured it. not even an of leakage

and as a control I turned on the courtesy light and measured again.

i also discovered the pulley belt was caked in oil and needs attention

thx for your input

Shhh!

They'd just ban anyody working under the bonnet instead...

ISTR hearing some time ago that a manufacturer (poss BMW?) was going to market a car whose bonnet couldn't be opened by the owner. Has that happened? I never heard any more about it.

Steve

shazzbat ( snipped-for-privacy@spamlessness.fsnet.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Not a million miles off the Audi A2.

A friend had a Maestro like that, the bonnet-opening-cable snapped probably due to over-use. After that it was maintenance-free, which suited the car better actually. Once again Austin-Rover way ahead of BMW.

And Renault have gone a step further still - you (often) can't open the bonnet, then when something needs doing it opens all by itself.

Usually, the 'something that needs doing' is a new windscreen. And cleaning the drivers seat.

"beerismygas" wrote

I have had this happen to me, the problem was that the stricken car had a bad engine earth.