VZ Commodore playing possum. Probably an earthing/electrical issue.

[Ernest101au]

My VZ that has been running fine for months decided to die on me. It will open up and seem fine but as soon as I turn the ignition it dies. No odometer, no flashy lights. Nothing, won't even lock or pop the boot. If I disconnect the battery and wait a while it will fire up without missing a beat. Only started to do this today. All the fuses are fine. Don't know how to check if the relays are fine. It does have an aftermarket stereo. Any ideas?

 

[Ernest101au]

Just replying to myself because I think I solved the problem and want to leave a google record to give others a head start. I don't know **** about cars but I have spent nearly 20 years fixing things for a living and learn pretty quick. This Commodore is just the "I'm getting divorced and need something to get to work until the asset split with the cheating bitch" car. It has TV screens in the back headrests that I didn't even notice until I got the car home.

The former owner had ripped out the subs and amps from the boot rough as guts before he traded it in but left the rest of the quite nice install intact. A friend and I rewired all of the stereo and threw in a sub and amp. Pro level job, he has been doing that **** for 20 years. We didn't touch the TVs as I have no fricking use for them. They worked at the time.

The problem was one TV died and was surging the whole fricking electrical system on startup causing the ECU to completely shut down everything. That TV has been isolated and insulated and the car is running awesome again.