Electrical Problem need help!

[numlock666]

Just bought my Talon Tsi a month or two ago, and it runs strong, going to do timing and all belts and pullies soon and just got a set of brand new Dunlop SP sport maxes today and went to the movies. On the way back I happened to cross over some rail road tracks that I had crossed over earlier heading to the movies and all of a sudden the car dies on me, I smell electrical smoke and check under the hood. And instantly noticed one ground wire that runs from the battery to the chassis right above the battery had fried off of the chassis. Dicsonnect the battery and pushed it into a gas station and noticed another ground wire going from the chassis to the intake manifold had completely fried gone exposed and burned OFF! After checking fuses and they looking fine (quick look) none looked burned, i tried reconnecting the battery again, BAD IDEA, huge sparkage and smoke started comming out from behind the steering wheel and my girlfriend started complaining about a smell on her side. Is the ECU under the glove right, not really sure just got this car after my 2gNT broke a timing belt. And also now the negative battery wire is fully destroyed and the car wont crank or anything. Just that annoying solid beep when the wire is connected. Any help appreciated.

 

[The Wave]

Is the battery somehow shorting out against the chassis? That could burn off the grounds (happened to me, took me a month to fix all the burnt out wires)

 

[numlock666]

So should I go ahead and rip open all the wire loom and and check each and every wire? great learning experience I'd say. Also why would it happen right over the tracks?

 

[delta448]

When you hit the tracks, you probably jarred a major power wire and allowed it to hit a chassis ground, and likely the insulation on that power wire was either too thin (possibly melted from engine bay heat) or there was a bare spot on it already. If it was an ignition wire, you could be smelling the coil, and the wire could have welded itself to the ground it hit. I would really study everything I could to find the short before I started tearing apart any harnesses or anything. Enough current to fry off your battery grounding points is probably coming from a major power source directly connected to the battery.

 

[numlock666]

Ok i went though and took out the burned negative cable, and traced the red wire running from the positive to the starter motor (since its enough to melt the thick black wire its gotta be a high amperage line like ignition, alternator, or somthing instead of a under the dash exposed wire or something. Well that starter motor wire was fine, but tomorrow I'm going to look at the ignition system. What are high amperage cuircuits in the car big enough to melt such a large guage wire like the negative so I have a general idea of where to look in this where's waldo hunt. Also could the tracks touching somthing grounded in my car like the crossmember cause anything like this? Just wondering because the car was always a bumpy ride and everynow and then I'd get potholes or somthing pretty violent enough to jar a wire but nothing, and is the train tracks a coincidence or part of the electrical problem? Also could I have damaged my ECU?

 

[GVR4592]

I would check fuses and see if any of them are blown, that might give you an indication of what circuit to look at for the problem. .

 

[numlock666]

Ok, found the problem guys, thanks for the input. I was wondering why all my positive wires were fine and all the grounds were killed. Aparrently when I hit the tracks, the battery jumped up and hit the RRE strut bar I have in there and it pinched the insulation at the terminal and shorted. HAHA !! i spent all day yesterday checking every high amperage cuircuit and couldnt find a thing. Me and two other guys were baffled and one of them knows his stuff pretty well and we're all stading around like WTF? mate. So thanks alot everyone!

 

[delta448]

doooood, ...tie that thing down!!!

 

[Wicked96GS-T]

Yeah, be really careful with that strut bar. I know at least one person burned their car to the ground when their battery hit the strut bar.