Electrical Issues

[Harry Bloomfield]

I don't know how to check resistance at the OBD connector.

Why would you want to? If you don't know what you are doing, and can work in a knowledgeable, methodical way, you can do an awful lot of expensive damage, to a modern car's electronics.

I have the auto engineer coming out tomorrow.

Just leave it to him!

AI also advised me to check voltage on the relay fuses but that would seem to be impossible as the pins are not exposed like the regular fuses.

As already pointed out, AI is absolutely no help to you.

 

[Robinbrum]

Not sure who or what you mean by auto engineer but I'd suggest your money would be better spent going direct to an auto electrician

Many garages, mechs will do some basic testing and after that call in auto electrician and pass their bill on to you. Go direct, cut out the middleman

I meant to say auto electrician. It seems there are lots of old school mechanics who won't touch the electric side of things and don't do any diagnostic work either. Yes, I probably could have saved myself a considerable amount of money if I had gone straight to an auto electrician, but I blame the AA mechanic for that.

Original issue with the car was that it frequently wasn't starting. AA came out then and said it was due to a crankshaft sensor. Got that sorted eventually and that's when I had my little mishap with the battery... an expensive lesson learned on my part.

 

[Robinbrum]

Not sure who or what you mean by auto engineer but I'd suggest your money would be better spent going direct to an auto electrician

Many garages, mechs will do some basic testing and after that call in auto electrician and pass their bill on to you. Go direct, cut out the middleman

I meant to say auto electrician. It seems there are lots of old school mechanics who won't touch the electric side of things and don't do any diagnostic work either. Yes, I probably could have saved myself a considerable amount of money if I had gone straight to an auto electrician, but I blame the AA mechanic for that.

Original issue with the car was that it frequently wasn't starting. AA came out then and said it was due to a crankshaft sensor. Got that sorted eventually and that's when I had my little mishap with the battery... an expensive lesson learned on my part

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I meant to say auto electrician. It seems there are lots of old school mechanics who won't touch the electric side of things and don't do any diagnostic work either. Yes, I probably could have saved myself a considerable amount of money if I had gone straight to an auto electrician, but I blame the AA mechanic for that.

Yep, a blown main fuse is fairly easy to diagnose, even for a basic mechanic. It might be worth contacting the AA, with regards to reimbursing you the cost of that alternator.

Original issue with the car was that it frequently wasn't starting. AA came out then and said it was due to a crankshaft sensor. Got that sorted eventually and that's when I had my little mishap with the battery... an expensive lesson learned on my part

You need to learn to check, and check again, before making the final lug connection. On most cars, it's not easy to get the cables to the wrong battery lugs.