Car is utterly dead; new battery and no power Anywhere in the car.

Windows started acting weird during long drive; stopped in Westport CT and car will now refuse to start or give any power to anything.

I'm wondering if this is a body control module problem or if there is some other relay or part that can be tested.

Only modification was removal of nav system display panel two days ago. Wondering what could be wrong. Any Ideas? Stranded....

 

Have you checked the big fuses in the spare tire compartment?

 

Burg I had a similar scenario with my 98 vert. Did a hard reset, reconnected, and all was back to normal. I did have to reset windows, but then it was all good. Maybe a possibility if you know your battery is good

 

Thanks for the replys and sorry to not respond earlier, but my friend and I figured it out.

1) Battery was good, as I suspected.
2) As I also suspected, there was something to the burnt plastic smell I noticed when inspecting the battery area.
3) The solution did not prove to be expensive, but it could have been for someone who just 'called somebody' and hoped for the best.


Turns out it was a power cable going to one of the fusible links mounted on the rear of the spare tire well. These fusible links are stock, but when I had a stereo shop do an installation, they added a power wire (red, in photo) to there which went to another fusible link, and then to the stereo system and amplifier. When they added this they may not have tightened the lock nut fully, causing the possibility of intermittent main power blackouts when the lock nut worked loose. The burnt plastic smell was the nylon in the lock nut melting every time there was a spark created when the power connected intermittently. We simply tightened the lock nut and power was restored. See photos (sorry for the blurry one).

I had another shop check out a problem I had with the body control module, so they may have been the ones who did not fully tighten the lock nut when running tests, not the stereo installers.

The other possibility is with the addition of a 400 watt stereo amplifier that perhaps the current draw is too strong, causing the nylon on the lock nut to melt and THEN making the wire work loose. I never noticed this until I took the car for a long drive from NH to VA, and then back again. Most of the other trips were short. And yes, the stereo and power amp were on the entire time.

Any thoughts on that? Wondering if maybe there is a better solution to powering the stereo that does not involve using the stock fusible link. It might be enough to use something other than a nylon lock nut that's more applicable for high temp (or warm-ish) applications. Not looking to create a fire hazard next to the gas tank though.... hm.