Complete electrical failure

[ewaf88]

Hi yesterday my car broke down on the M25. I had to come to a halt because of stationary traffic. As I did everything went out - dashboard - lights etc - my car was a dead as a Dodo.

I managed to get it into the hard shoulder ( no thanks to some other motorists who were using it to undertake me as the traffic started moving again).

I managed to push it to a Police layby about 100m away ( I deemed this safe as the traffic was still only crawling along). Then after about 15 minutes the dashboard starting flickering and suddenly sprang back into life.

However it was going crazy with every warning light flashing and Workshop appearing on the display. The Hazards started working and after a while the display settled down albeit after more episodes of it acting as though it was having a nervous breakdown.

So the battery still had power - it just wasn't getting through when I initially stopped.

The recovery guy thought it might be the ECU - but discounted the cambelt ( which was changed about two years ago).

It'll be interesting to find out the problem when the garage picks it up unless this has happened to anyone else.

Obviously to lose all electrical power suddenly in a Motorway is really dangerous and it was just good luck that there was a Police layby nearby.

 

[Elwood]

The recovery guy thought it might be the ECU - but discounted the cambelt ( which was changed about two years ago).

You mean the accessory belt (the one that runs the alternator)? Did you look?

 

[ewaf88]

Hi the battery was fine as when the power cane back on there was enough Joyce to powerr the hazards for an hour before the recovery van arrived so it appeared to be charging correctly.

The fact that the power came on again after 15 minutes or so points to something else in my opinion..

 

[ZERO815]

Used the M25 on my way to Dover yesterday too. It was raining pretty bad. Had a similar problem with our VW Sharan a couple of years ago. Turned out to be an issue with a corroded/bad ground wire

 

[ewaf88]

Thanks that's very interesting. It could be a cheap fix then but it must be a bad design if a ground wire can cause this much havoc.

 

[jimlloyd40]

Used the M25 on my way to Dover yesterday too. It was raining pretty bad. Had a similar problem with our VW Sharan a couple of years ago. Turned out to be an issue with a corroded/bad ground wire

I agree with that. Has to be a bad ground or loose connection to have completely lost power.

 

[golfdave]

If the battery has power & I mean to run engine & still have headlights on full power etc...then its a temporary glitch that has shorted out ....& yes a bad earth...a good scan with VCDS & look for the earliest time stamp on the fault codes..that will be the culprit...

 

[ewaf88]

If the battery has power & I mean to run engine & still have headlights on full power etc...then its a temporary glitch that has shorted out ....& yes a bad earth...a good scan with VCDS & look for the earliest time stamp on the fault codes..that will be the culprit...

Hi well my franchise said they had to change the battery and to be honest even when power did start coming back on there were still multiple error messages

However when I collected the car today I did ask why the low battery warning indicator had not come on prior to the failure - but wasn't given a clear answer.

However it did come on when the battery started to recover.

But I still think you shouldn't just lose all electrical power as it puts both you and other road users in danger.

Just imagine an unlit A road with a breakdown and your hazard lights not working.