Hi all,

I took my 2001 Express van to Norway and after a few polar style winters, the battery gave in. I replaced it with a loaner from a friend, this one having post terminals, instead of the American style buried ones.

I fitted the adaptors on the battery, but lo and behold, in Europe the positioning of the terminals in reversed - in short I connected the + red wire to the battery's negative post and viceversa.

I then proceeded to start the van. I know, I know, it was stupid of me to just assume, but I did it. A little smoke came from the very hot battery terminals, after which I disconnected everything. The spark could be heard from inside when I turned the key!

I left the van in it's place since I did not really need it at the time and haven't tried to restart it until today, 1 year later.

This time polarity is OK, the starter turns the engine over nicely, but it won't start up.
The green automatic transmission gear indicator lights on the dashboard are also OFF, so now I tell by feeling what gear the van is in. They were OK before the accident.

All other lights on the van interior-system-ext. work fine.

Have I fried the on board computer, or is it just a blown fuse ? I checked the fuse-box under the dashboard and they are all ok.

Also, removing the black venting cap from the fuel injection system, does not show even a drop of fuel squirted through when the engine is cranking and the pump inside the gas tank is awfully quiet.

So now, what should I look for next?

Thanks in advance for your replies!

 

check the underhood fuse block for blown fuses.

if all the fuses are ok and it still doesn't start, connect a full function scan tool and check for codes in all the modules. The scan tool will have to be able to pull powertrain, undefined, body and chassis codes.

 

Excellent points, thanks! I'll have a go at it w/o the scan tool (it's not a free loaner item here in Norway and service is extremely expensive), I hope to find a bad fuse and that to be the end of it!.