Ok so yesterday the battery light started to gently glow...oh dear I thought Alternator...checked battery and though fully tight the negative terminal is loose on the battery, very odd! so changed over the battery this morning for a fully charged one and the glow went away after about half a mile...maybe not I thought...
Off to Lincoln...happy days!
So about 5 miles away from home speedo and rev counter flicker...eh up...shortly after ABS/TC lights on, steering heavy but still got speedo at this point, but also display gone dim...not long before losing speedo/rev counter and fuel meter (and I know fuel is low)...so replacement ABS/TC ECU needed...
As I'm coming into Gainsborough the cars starting to splutter a little too...pre warning of imminent fuel exhaustion...as I turn across into the petrol station engine cuts out and steering goes VERY heavy as a result...roll up to the petrol pump...wow thats lucky!

Put in £20 of fuel...turnkey to start engine...battery is flat...petrol station is run by my next door neighbour who lends me his car to jump start the car...wow thats lucky!

Battery is so dead it wont jump start but petrol station is opposite a garage who lend me a jump start pack which needs to remain connected to the battery for the half mile journey home...guy knows where I live and happily lends me the pack so I can get us home...swap battery over and pop the pack back to him and get car home...wow thats lucky!

Have a replacement 3.0 alternator in the garage to fit tomorrow...
Question is, will the 2.5 abs/tc ecu I have from a 2000 CDX (same part number) do the job and get the steering etc back until I get what I need...and what does the tech2 reprogramming to say its now in a 3.0 actually achieve? And until its tech2'd or replaced with a 3.0 one what will it not do correctly?Also it seems very likely that the alternator overcharging and the ABS/TC ECU failing are linked...was suggested on another post that his went after jump starting and the failures generally seem to have been in winter when battery has gone flat etc...does this seem like a common link or have other people had failures not related to failing batteries/alternators??