Well, my car will not start. It doesn't do anything. Totally dead. Here's the tale. I had problem with the "standing" lights not shutting off. I first disconnected the battery to prevent the drain. It was a pain to hook up to start the car (I was ordering the part to fix) so I just figured out what fuses turned the lights off and pulled them. The car sat for about 4 days and when I went to start it up - nothing but clicking. Dead battery? So I hooked up a charger for 3-4 hrs - no help. Went to jump the xfire w/my other car. Turned off my brain and for 2 seconds hooked up the jump w/the polarity reversed from what it should be. (Please don't tell me how dumb I am, I know it). Hooked up the jump correctly and the cables started to get hot immediately. Now what? What would cause the jump cables from getting hot? Did I burn up the alternator? the battery? the ecu? the starter? I need advice because I really don't know what to think. I am having the car towed to have it checked out tomorrow but I could use all the imput I can. Where I live there are not a lot of cars like this and most of the mechanics do not see this kind of car very often. I still may be forced to tow the car 40+ miles anyway to someone who is more familiar w/German cars. The car needed some module or switch and did not start before I made my mistake. Thanks for your help.

 

your battery could have shorted . Hope thats it, then check starter and alt

 

I would also check each of the main fuses, and as many of the smaller ones throughout the car as you can find. Reverse polarity can run things amok in these cars, good hunting on this one.

 

+1 Was my thoughts when I read this earlier.. fortunately never been there.. will admit was two seconds from doing this once.. (not on Xfire)lol.
My thoughts were the electronics involved.. Are there resistors that give magic smoke when reversed?

 

clicking means dead battery. When you hooked the cables up, you just didn't have a ground, so the clicking continued. Reversing the cables just heats things up, usually blowing a main fuse that protects the car from damage. Using good jumper cables and getting a good ground is essential for jump starting cars...patience in this case... check your main fuses...the big ones...

 

The cables were new and grounded to the engine. I did find out that there were some problems w/the battery and needs to be replaced. Probably the cause of the heated cables. The real news for me was that the pump module underneath the styrofoam pieces in the back was full of water as was much of that area. We now believe that this module was causing my lights to stay(draining the battery) on and preventing the locks from working. It is my understanding from reading other posts here that the problem is with the gaskets/seals that the rear wing is attached to leak and the water runs down between the panels and body. There weren't any easy to see "tracks" of water running down anywhere. If anyone has any other ideas about where this water comes from please let me know. Anyway the plan is to dry the module out - see if it works and replace if it does not. If the water is coming from the wing area I will need to re-seal that area better than the factory seals. Could use advice here also to what was learned from others w/this problem. Also, I learned that when we took the panels off the back there was evidence of significant accident damage to the rear of the car on both sides sometime in the past. Unpainted spot welds. Fortunately there was no visable damage to the unibody "frame". That is a relief. This also proves that CarFax is a bit of rip-off. This is the second time in 5 years I have purchased a car w/a CarFax only to find out the car has been in a significant accident that was not reported. CFax will not be getting my $ anymore. It really doesn't help much and doesn't live up to their advertising claims. Thanks for the help.

 

Water comes in by the seals on the panel that the wing is mounted to on the SRT6, past the O-rings that are on the studs of the SRT6 wing, presumably past the panel that the NA wing is on, past the two boots that the wires that enter the hatch pass through and past the gasket around the fuel filler door. Take your pick.

If the car has had an accident then water could come in through any gaps that are a result of the accident.