ALWAYS hide your serial cable
 

DO NOT under any circumstances just leave your haltech serial cable down by the passenger seat. Hide it under the seat or under the floor mat! Otherwise this may happen to you.

I decided to try out some new suspension changes tonight so I go for a little drive. I hear some noise from the back which I figure are just the rear suspension covers floating around in the hatch. So I'm loving the new changes then I give the car some gas then it just seems to choke on me. Ok thats was a little wierd since it's tuned pretty good. I just roll up to a stop light and weight. My idle seems a bit off but I've been playing with it so I think nothing of it.

The light turns green I give it some gas then start to release the clutch the car starts to move then chokes and dies. At that point I'm like "WHAT the hell" So I start it back up and same thing. I start her up and try to rev it in neutral the car just dies.

So I'm freaking out I only changed suspension I keep telling myself. So I pop the hood and try to get a sense of what might be happening. I check the map sensor I look for any leaks. This is night time so I'm hoping it's something simple. I go around to the passenger side and what do I see my damn serial cable lying on the ground! My girlfriend had kicked it out when I got back home earlier that night.

So I'm freaked that the cable got pulled and tore the harness or something. So I open the passenger door take off the covers check the harness everything seems fine. The end of the serial cable is beat to hell for being dragged on the ground for 2-3Km. So I disconnect it and try to get the car to work. Still nothing. Then I think hey why don't I turn off the car and then turn it back on.

That did it. THANK YOU!!! I've never been so relieved in my life. (well a couple of times but those are personal :D ) I'm going to check everything out tomorrow when there is more light but the car drove home fine after that.

So the moral of the story folks ALWAYS HIDE YOUR SERIAL CABLE!!!!!

Raven

Doh!
Sorry to hear your bad luck. :(

I've got another tip about the serial cable.

If you live in a low humidity area, GROUND YOURSELF to the car before picking up the serial cable end.
I was working in a relatively dry area (about 30% - 40%?), which I picked up the end - ZAP!
ESD into the cable!
Oh crap, I thought I killed the customers Haltech ECU! :(
At first, I thought I did as the Haltech didn't want to connect. :(
After a few minutes, it did connect - WHEW!
After that, I always tend to grab the door latch "ring" (FC3S - convenient when getting in the passenger side door) before grabbing the serial cable end!


-Ted

Hehehe, all this is all too funny. although i've never had that kind of problem with haltech specifically, i do tend to tap the metal on the chassis/body every time i get in or out of the car, i almost always always always get shocked when im getting out of the car. Guess i have an "electric" personallity. :D

Wow , when I started reading was expecting you to say you forgot your laptop on your roof.

Whew...that would have been rough!