Electrical failure

[Braindamage]

Hi Guys SOS
Newbie here with hopefully NOT major problem.

I have 1999 anniversary model, which has spent a lot of the past 4/5 years parked up. Due to changed circumstances it became my daily runner last September. The Joy! New Battery full service to get her road ready and she was running beautifully. Put up about 4000 km since. Until fortnight ago while out for a walk along canal. , returned to vehicle to listen to radio due to intermittent rain stayed in car for couple of hours, went for another walk , returned , No power , battery flat, huge surprise. Long story short got a jump, started first turn of key. On my way. 2 miles later sudden electric failure. Engine dies, all electrical displays shut down. No joy trying to restart all electrics gone strangely headlights worked. Got recovered. Inspection revealed Main fuse had burnt out , seriously , area around it melted, strong smell of burning. Mechanic who I left it with, good guy replaced fuse, engine turning but not firing. Outside his expertise he sought advice from a specialist who more or less told him it was a major job de dah de dah de dah. My mechanic disbelieves and is seeking second opinion from friend who is not available for a few weeks. In meantime I’ve no transport and am worried that potential problem/ cost could be prohibitive. Any comfort/ help most welcome

[Steve]

Any spark at the plugs when turning over?

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[Braindamage]

Sorry don’t know

[Steve]

Assuming all other electrical stuff works, before I'd go looking at anything else (ECUs etc) I'd check the ignition coil (see if the spark plugs are sparking).
Remove a spark plug, lay it on the camcover and connected to it's ignition wire. Have someone try start the car and see if it sparks.

I'd also clean up any earth points on the body.

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[Braindamage]

Thanks I’m now told the issue is linked to an immobiliser. €600 to sort?!!!

There was an immobiliser on car when I got it, think it was aftermarket you had to put a small pen top shaped key into a receptor . An AA guy removed it on a home start call a few years ago. As he felt it was only way to get car started at time , it never caused a problem at that time car always started no problem. Apart from the cost which is hard to come up with in the current circumstances, I’m having difficulty seeing how a redundant security feature could be causing a problem which is so difficult/costly to put right. Any observations.? I need to get car running as I need it as daily runner. Thanks

[Steve]

600e? That's sounds a bit steep, might be worth bringing to an Auto electrician.

This is worth a read too
https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink/topic? ... source=app

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[Steve]

Did you try seeing if there is spark?

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[Pops]

Looks very likely that the battery was connected wrong when jump starting it, similar happened to a friend's mk1 but was spotted fairly quickly, like yours his main fuse blew but it started OK once the fuse was replaced. On my MK1 I had a problem with it not starting, it turned out to be the yellowish colour relay was at fault, I wonder if this may be you're issue as you did drive it after jump starting it might have been long enough to burn out the relay