On driving my car to work this morning, it went completely dead, electrics, engine the lot, completely dead. Luckily I was doing around 10mph, and so was able to depress the clutch and coast to a spot just off the road to avoid any traffic.

Any ideas? I managed to get towed to a local garage, who are going to have a sparky look at it, but given its a kit car they don't seem to hold out much hope.

What can cause such a complete shutdown?

Cheers

Phil

I had exactly the same thing happen to me a few times in my old Sierra. The weird thing was that when I disconnected and reconnected the battery everything started working fine again! I have a feeling it was a faulty battery cable, and when I moved the cable whilst disconnecting, I managed to fix the faulty connection in the wire, at least temporarily. So might be worth checking that your battery cables aren't faulty.

Pete

Dodgy battery connection was the first thing that popped into my mind........ second thing was earthing to battery or engine etc. Third thing was dodgy alternator with some dodgy connections....

For a fault like that it has to be something fairly simple - it's just a question of spotting it.

Cheers

Mark

Hi m8 - similar thing happened to us... was a loose connection to negative battery terminal - somehow it worked loose. Reconnecting it made the contact and it hasn't let us down since.

ATB

Also that used to happen to me quite often on a honda motorbike I used to own - the main fuse kept blowing for some reason. Never did find out why cos I crashed it soon after.

Cheers

Mark

Thanks Guys, I will try out your suggestions.

Given that I also have a problem with my headlights (http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/viewthread.php?tid=30959)

Then it would be nice if both problems are related, which kind of makes me think (hope) that the alternator may be at the source of the problem.

Phil

Sounds like a fundemental problem as already mentioned with the battery negative or the main fuse.

Whether it be a kit car or not a good auto electrician should be able to diagnose and fix it no problem.

Be interested to know the outcome as it's worth knowing in case it happens to anyone else!!

Rich.

It could be down to the regualtor as they're a known Honda weak point....

Regulator plays up, battery goes flat, headlights die and car shortly afterwards....

Good point, could well be the rectifier

Rich.

So is that the RECTIFIER or the REGULATOR?

Both. Same thing - regulator/rectifier

Agree with the regulator. Same thing happened on my CBR. Also happened on the car.

Check your battery though because in some cases it can explode the battery. If there are any signs of swelling on the sides then change it as it is already risky.

Yes, sorry. To confirm what Mr Hellfire has just said, the regulator/rectifier is a combined unit. It's made from aluminium with fins on it and is probably about 2"x3" and 3/4" deep.

FIXED!

The terminal connection block to the master relay had sevearly coroded, possible due to water ingestion. Its been replaced and the car now works fine, although the water may have also damaged the relay itself which may hopefully explain the headlight problem. Anyway I can replace that fairly easily and see what happens.

The garage also did a really cheap job at only £60 inc VAT, which means they probably did'nt charge for the tow!

Anyhow, it means i'm steadily adding to my working knowledge of the car, and I hope this little tale can help others!

One thing for sure is that owning a 7 can certainly be character building. Having everyone stare at my poor car as they crawled past in the rush hour traffic certinaly was'nt fun!

Cheers

Phil

YAY! Good ord mint......