Jump started car and smoke appeared
 

Hey all,

Today I had a dead battery on my Honda Accord (2001 2.0SE Exec MT, British Spec, Y-Reg), so I jumped started my car with help from a friends and within a few seconds smoke started coming from the interior, looked like it came from behind the CD Player unit, and a burning/electrical smell filled the inside, the jump cables also heated up a lot. I instantly disconnected them on seeing smoke. I'm assuming at this point I reversed polarity of the battery's although it happened so fast I didn't wait to notice on disconnecting, I'm usually pretty careful about these things when hooking up though.

Either way on a further successful jump start from a break down mechanic (The AA) everything seems to be working fine, I've checked all the electrical stuff i can think of (lights and indicators/CD player/air con/speakers/windows/sun roof,cruise control,horn, the dash lights i can test etc...) and the car runs fine as far as I can tell, initially some of it seemed to not be working but then came back to life (the automatic-down feature on the drivers side electric window button wasn't working and you had to hold it down to start with, but within half an hour it had corrected itself..).
The only thing I've just realized I haven't checked so far is the heater for the blowers, but there blowing fine, will check that ASAP.

Any idea what the smoke could have come from and do I need to check anything else out if its all working ok now? (I haven't checked the fuses yet). Also any idea if i can expect anything to break in the near future because of this? The only thing the mechanic mentioned was the battery may need replacing due to the amperage it was putting out I think. (350 out of 540?)

Thanks A lot!

Edit: Elsewhere I've been advised the following, don't know how accurate it is but I really appreciate everyone's help!

I was advised that when the battery dies its normal that the Automatic window down feature wont work and needs to be calibrated first by using it for a while (sending it all the way up and down maybe).

Was Also advised that I may have some electrical problems going forward but its luck of the draw at the moment and keep a close eye on her. Will probably see some symptoms over the next week or so if I hurt anything.


General consensus is I may have got lucky and depending on weather or not the battery was old and already putting out the wrong amperage/voltage, may have just blown that up a bit.


If anyone has anything else to add would love to hear from ya :)

You likely heated up a wire and burned some insulation. Try to test everything electrical in your car to be sure that it is working properly.

If the main fuse did not blow, then you are probably ok.

Thank you for the advise :) I presume if the main fuse had blown the car would not have started without replacing it, and if other fuses had blown other things wouldn't be working depending on which fuse? Sorry don't know a lot about car fuses, but didn't have to replace any so far, and the mechanic didn't either.

When you reverse polarity while jumping you add voltages of the booster with your dead battery. No bueno

I always thought the recalibration of the auto-windows was for closing them, not opening them. When closing, THAT's when the system has to detect excessive force and stop. It's a safety feature for pinching your fingers. I also think if that is needed, it's explained in the owner's manual.

How that system is done in UK cars is not necessarily the same as USA cars.