I think I've been an idiot. In fact I know I've been an idiot. I don't think any harm has been done, but I jumped started my old motor today off of my VRS and got the polarities mixed up on the old car, whilst the Octavia was running and the jump leads were connected to it's battery. They were connected all of a few seconds, but enough to heat the jump leads. The VRS seems fine with all electrics working, but someone said to me that jumping off of new cars can mess up their ECU, let alone mixing up polarities like I did. Should I be worried? What damage could have been caused? Should I jump off of the VRS in the first place?:confused:

Before anyone says it, I know I am a fool!!!

I have jump started several cars from mine without problems, as long as both cars seem fine then it looks like you got away with the wrong polarities this time.

Where in Scotland are you?

If you are anywhere near me I can plug vag-com in for you and check for fault codes for peace of mind.

Steve

In Aberdeenshire.

Well if your down near Fife at the weekends then give us a shout. Im guessing all will be fine though!

Steve

Thanks. I'll run it for a couple of days and let you know. Any problems, I'll be there. Really appreciated.

Hoping all will be fine. Get really paranoid about my pride and joy, you know what like. I've taken it for a wee run and all seems fine. I'm hoping if something was wrong with one of these sensors or ECU it would have shown itself, bust as youc an tell I'm no mechanic!!!. :scared:

The car I was jumping is a Vauxhall Calibra. Those battery connections are really bad - black positive and brown negative. I do a fair bit of electrical work around my house and just clamped them on. Didn't think for a second (no surprise there). Nothing to start with cause the battery was real flat, but after a few seconds - sparks. By the time I got to it, must have been on about 10-15 seconds. Dope.

you should be allright, yould probably have done damage if you put the clamps on the calibra first. ifs theres no check engine light you should be ok, hey if your still under warrenty tell your dealer you thought you saw the check engine light flicker and theyll vag com it to check for fault codes for free, dont tell them about jump leads though.

Heres one for you......... in electrical work 48v DC colours used to be

Blue was -ve

Black was +ve

Now they are:

Blue is +ve

Grey is -ve

Is that madness or what, bloody EU.

Steve

or if you work on the phase electrical systems the colours used to be

live 1 Red

Live 2 Yellow

Live 3 Blue

Neutral Black

now its

Live 1 Brown

Live 2 Black

Live 3 Grey

Neutral Blue

so lets swap the live and neutral colours over, very clever, i think not!