Battery connected wrong way :-(

[Deleted User]

Dont know how I did this but I did....



It even started. Then I noticed the smoke. Stopped engine quickly and whipped leads off battery....



Under the bonnet seems OK. Cant see anything.



Likely to be any damage? Anything that I can check.



I'm a little reluctant to reconnect the battery (the right way) just yet.

motorguy

I guess try it and see what happens?

I did this with a battery boost pack connected the wrong way and it blew an inline fuse.

So if it doesnt start chances are its a fuse, BUT you might have to do some rooting around to find it.

Come back and let us know what happens, also car make, model, year?

[Deleted User]

1996 mini. So no ECU and stuff.

Doesnt appear to be any damage under the bonnet so it may have been smoke without fire. Bit worried when I saw the smoke.

What was smoking? Also dont understand how it even started?

TrickyWicky

It shouldn't have started unless it has some sort of polarity correction applied across the entire car and the starter motor. It is possible however that it was backfiring momentarily.

Either way smoke isn't good but there isn't much more you can do other than reconnect it the correct way and try again.

MickMack

I'm also very surprised it actually started........


As for the smoke, it may be the Altenator, if the engine has started then this will be trying to charge the battery in the reverse polarity so may have damaged the regulator or something (just a guess TBH)

If you do start the car and the battery light stays on on the dash then there's a chance you've damaged the altenator

[Deleted User]

Yeh. Alternator smells a little. Hopefully thats all it is.

System

all you can do is try it, my last mini was a 95 and it had the immobiliser and alarm controlled by the ecu - take it yours is a carb then?
tbh, there's not a lot that could have been damaged, as said it'll likely be alternator/starter - not sure where the smoke was coming from, have a good look around the fuse box as well...

if you have any further problems, join up at theminiforum, great resource for getting issues sorted!

ILW

All electrical and electronic equipment runs on smoke which is stored within the circuits and components. Sometimes it will start escaping and when it runs out the item will stop working.

[Deleted User]

the_r_sole wrote: »

all you can do is try it, my last mini was a 95 and it had the immobiliser and alarm controlled by the ecu - take it yours is a carb then?
tbh, there's not a lot that could have been damaged, as said it'll likely be alternator/starter - not sure where the smoke was coming from, have a good look around the fuse box as well...

if you have any further problems, join up at theminiforum, great resource for getting issues sorted!

No immobiliser or alarm. Even though its a 1996 - its a jap import so who knows what year it is.

It is injection though not carb. Fingers crossed eh?

System

must have some form of ecu to control the injection - single or multi point?
just give it a bash and see what happens, listen for the fuel pump priming first too in case that has been damaged you won't get much further!

[Deleted User]

the_r_sole wrote: »

must have some form of ecu to control the injection - single or multi point?
just give it a bash and see what happens, listen for the fuel pump priming first too in case that has been damaged you won't get much further!

Hmmm. Dunno. Like I said its a jap cooper import.