Hi,
I recently changed the battery and earth strap on my '98 Rover 414, and when I turned the ignition key, various red lights came on dimly on the dashboard, the radio display came on dimly, and the coolant temperature gauge shot up to maximum. The car refused to even attempt to start. It felt like the car was immobilised. I pressed the lock button on the keyfob and it seemed to go mad - buzzing and clicking noises from behind the dashboard...!
I tried this a few more times and then without warning everything went back to normal. So I tried again - weirdness again. A few more tries andd it went completely back to normal and has been ever since.
I can only think that this was caused by (a) a dodgy earth strap connection - unlikely since I just replaced it with a new one and it's been perfect ever since.. and I've seen the car with the earth strap completely disconnected and it never did this. or... (b) messing with the power supply upset the ECU and it crashed.
Anyone else seen this? Any suggestions as to what it was?