Can an OBDII ruin your ECU?

circa89 · Post by **circa89** » 03 Feb 2013, 11:10

Long time lurker and user of information from this forum but I could not find any previous post on this strange occurance.

So, I had the oddest thing happen yesterday to my "99 V70. I had a service light on the dash so I borrowed a friends OBDII Reader.
Scanned and read the code P0138 if I remember correctly, 02 sensor bank needs replacing. I reset the code but now my car won't turn over.
Nothing... I figured it might have something to do with the OBD Reader and perhaps the ECU was disturbed. I disconnected the battery over night and reattached this morning but still nothing.

Are the two events related? I would have to assume it is beyond coincidence and there is a correlation, but what happen?

circa89 · Post by **circa89** » 03 Feb 2013, 11:27

I boosted the battery for about 30 minutes and it turned over. Any ideas on what happened? Scared the heck out of me.

Cojack · Post by **Cojack** » 03 Feb 2013, 11:32

I had this happen to me the other day it has been cold here, really cold here and I went to work and came out from work and the car would not start, humm got it jump started and brought it home only to find it not start the next morning so I charged it and then load tested it and found the battery was junk so I replaced it and have not had any problems, If you live where the climate is cold you may want to have your battery load tested and if you are by any autozone they will do this for free.

circa89 · Post by **circa89** » 03 Feb 2013, 11:40

Thanks CoJack. It was brutally cold here last week -20. In addition I had my car alarm going off for no apparent reason. I figure now that it was due to a drop in Voltage as a result of a junk battery. I am going to replace it as it is a 4 year old battery and the winters here in Calgary are tough on batteries.

Enjoy the Superbowl, too bad the Packers aren't in it.

Post by **Pauloil** » 03 Feb 2013, 11:44

maybe the code reader would've read the battery voltage! Before I was into caring for my car, I backed it of the garage and stopped it, turned it off and went in to get something. came out and no start, free tow to dealer for free new batt. at 38K miles. these cars need 12.3-12.4V to start.

Cojack · Post by **Cojack** » 03 Feb 2013, 11:49

just a side note..A battery may have 12 + volts but it takes amps to start it...