Made A Stupid Mistake - Battery Content, Help!

Hey everyone,

Sooooo I have the CEL for my secondary air injection (P0413) "Secondary air injection system switching valve A circuit open". I've checked all the wiring for the SAI and unplugged the harnesses/inspected. Everything looks clean and normal.

This lead me to believe that my Braille 11lb battery could be using the issue because during the cold New England winter it died like 4/5 times and I had to jump it. So I thought I'd get a new battery to see if it fixes the P0413.

I ditched the Braille 11lb and went with a 15lb. The new 15lb battery showed up last night and I installed it.

Well, I made the VERY stupid mistake of putting the positive wire on the negative terminal and the negative wire on the positive terminal. As soon as I did that the horn started blaring and the radiator fans kicked on. I immediately cut the connection and realized what I just did... it was probably connected for about 5 seconds.

I then correctly hooked up the battery by connecting the positive wire to the positive terminal and then the negative wire to the negative terminal.

I started her up and all seemed well. I looked on my dash and I had the ESP, power steering, tire pressure, and battery light all on. I read online that this is normal and you just need to go for a short drive/ lock your steering wheel to the left and right.

Well I did all of that. Went on a 10 minute ride (with no power steering), and locked the steering out several times. Nothing changed; all of the lights are still on the dash.

I checked the fuse box under the hood and in the cabin; drivers side door jamb. Physically removed all the fuses and inspected.

From what I can tell, only 1 fuse blew and that was under the hood; fuse F19 for the wiper motor. I can't tell if the big 100 (assuming amp) fuses are still good or not that are located on the fuse box under the hood but with the exception of F19 all the others are intact.

What the hell do I do now? I tried unhooking the battery again and leaving it for 10 minutes and hooking it back up but it didn't solve anything.

Still don't have power steering. ESP, power steering, battery, and tire pressure lights are still on. And when I try to reset the tire pressure light using the button in the glove box nothing happens. When I press down the traction control button down by the shifter, nothing happens.

Help!

You may have fried the ecm! But yiu could be lucky and you just need to do the basic settings for the power steering/ABS, scan for codes and clear them all and see what happens if you haven’t already done so.


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All of the dash lights you are getting are linked to the ABS controller and would be somewhat normal having changed the battery, it is true that they normally would go out once driven but you may need to hook up VCDS to rectify it.


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I did scan for codes and it’s still only the P0413 code. Didn’t clear it yet. Would replacing the blown fuse help fix anything?

Car idles normal, drives normal, goes into boost normal. Would you still be able to drive on a fried ecm?

I also don’t have VCDS

Would replacing the blown fuse help fix anything?

Er.. yeah!






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Check fuse 2 and fuse 4 in the fuse box located at the end of the dash, F4 and F24 in the engine bay.


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Is fuse 2 blown?


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Fuses 1-4 are not blown. Fuses F4 and F24 are not blown. Only fuse I found to be blown was F19 and I just replaced it.

I cannot tell if R1 or R2 are blown or not. Any idea on how to check?

Just cleared the CEL and went on a short drive and locked out my steering wheel left and right and nada.

ESP, tire pressure, battery, and power steering lights are still on

Andddd the brand new 15lb Braille battery is now dead. Swapped the 11lb back in and it started right up.

All the lights are still on the dash though. So I definitely screwed something up.

I’m afraid I’m gonna have to take it to the dealer and pay out the ass to fix whatever is wrong.

I tested all the fuses and they all lit up the tester light

All the electronics seem to be freaking out now.

Went on a short cruise to Dunkin and now shits beeping on me saying “error brakes”

ABS light was flashing and is now on solid. Airbag light is on solid. Speedo was going up and down between 0 and 60. E-brake light is flashing even tho the ebrake is on and I’m in neutral.

I must have fried my ecm or something major

As the car starts up and drives I would guess the ECU and BCM/CECM are probably ok or at least not completely fried! You may well have killed the new battery though and I’ve also heard that the alternator could be damaged! I would disconnect it for 30 minutes and turn on a light switch or something that usually comes on without the key to try and dissipate any residual voltage then connect it back up (making sure the battery is holding charge) and see what it does, the MK6 and alike do some funky shit when the battery voltage is low so it could be that the alternator IS shot as the latest flashing dash lights didn’t start immediately but only after a bit of driving, also the new battery died as well which could just be drained not damaged, you’ll probably have to get someone to look at it if you can’t fault diagnose yourself as I cannot do it from here unfortunately !


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Yea I’m probably just gonna have to towed to the dealership and bend over and take the bill. I don’t have the resources to diagnose this and I don’t know anyone in my area.

This very well could be the last straw for me and cars until I get my own place with amble room to work and space for 2 cars.

We’ll see how much it costs to fix. I may just sell it after this and buy a cheap beater to get me thru the next couple years. Who knows

Fingers crossed it’s not too serious!


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It’s just occurred to me there is a multi fuse on the front of the engine fuse box where the thick red cables enter the fuse box, it’s like a flat brass plate, that includes a power steering and alternator protection, I’ll have a look for a link with some info for you.


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