Rep Power: 0

I was giving my 1995 civic a tune up and while replacing the corroded battery connectors, I accidentally hooked up a ground wire to the positive terminal with the other positive wires. Since my battery was dead, I had to jump start it. I hooked up the jumper cables and went to start the car. Nothing happened, no power to anything. I noticed a faint electrical burn smell and quickly took off the jumper cables. They were warm to the touch and had stayed on for about 15 to 20 seconds. I realized and fixed my mistake and carefully reconnected my jumper cables. I tried again, but the car has no electrical power at all. I checked all of the fuses both under the hood and inside the car. Nothing was blown. I pulled the ECU but it looked perfect and had no smell of a burn. I am a poor student and would like to take care of this myself if at all possible. Any suggestions on what to try next?

 
Rep Power: 518

You probably blew the 80 amp main fuse, that's what usually blows.
Looks a lot like this:


You can look through the clear window and see if the little wire is cooked open.

It is #41, screwed in to the underhood fusebox, but check all of them while you are there.
(May not be yours, but it should be close)




There could easily be other fuses blown, too.
Lots of crap happens when you hook up a battery backwards.

HTH

 
Rep Power: 0

I double checked the fuses today and not a single one is blown. I even took a multimeter to each one of the big ones, but they are all perfect, both inside the car and under the hood.

Additionally I removed the battery and hooked up a different one (from my little truck) that I know works and still nothing. No dome lights, no headlights or hazards, no dash lights, it's completely dead.

I keep thinking that it must be something under the dash that fried, but there's so much under there that I don't know where to look. Any other suggestions?

 
Rep Power: 518

A test light, and a little bit of logic in the approach.


MAYBE a wiring diagram.

 
Rep Power: 0

Yea, that's what I was afraid of. However, I did get a pdf of the repair manual with all the wiring diagrams. I guess it's a long, tedious process from here...

 
Rep Power: 518

Initial check is freekin simple.
Test light should light up on every last terminal in the underhood fusebox, small fuses included (with the key ON).

 
Rep Power: 0

PROBLEM SOLVED!

So I ended up looking extensively at the wiring diagrams and how all the connections under the hood connect in relation to one another. I realized that I actually hooked up my battery properly the first time I connected it. I'm not as big of an idiot as I thought after all (or am I?) But when I originally did that, the jumper cables got extremely hot, so what was the problem?

I figured the problem must have been the original battery. So I removed it completely from the circuit and hooked up a good test battery and presto, the car started right up. I was extremely relieved to say the least.

Now the questions remain: Why did it heat up the jumper cables? Why did everything work fine before messing around with the original battery? Why did the the entire electrical system of the car go dead? Why was there a faint smell of burning electrical components when I tried to jump it?

It all comes down to chemistry.

After I gave my new car a tune up (new spark plugs, wires, rotor and cap, air filter and oil change) I started it up to make sure I didn't mix up any spark plug cables or anything. It started up perfectly. The last thing I had to do was clean all of the corrosion off the battery and cables which was the worst case of corrosion I have ever seen.

I got out some water and baking soda and began the process. I ended up cutting the cables back about 2 inches because they were extremely corroded. In the process, I decided to check the water level of the battery. It was low, so I added some water. I had to replace the terminal connectors, so the battery sat out and I went to Autozone for the connectors. When I re-installed the battery and connected everything, the battery was completely dead. That's when the jumper cables were applied from my little truck. Then the whole story about bad smells and hot cables happened.

It so happens, that my friend (a chemist) told me in the past that if your battery is weak it is often a sign of low water levels. While cleaning the battery, I filled up the water level because it was pretty low. What he failed to tell me is that you can't put tap water in, it has to be distilled water. Otherwise the electrolytes in tap water make an electrical connection inside your battery and basically ruin it. That is why my battery went completely dead. When hooking up the jumper cables to the bad battery, it was basically a short and all of the current from the truck battery was simply going right through the bad battery and heating up the cables. Essentially after putting water in the original battery, it changed from a battery to a resistor of some unknown value which is why the car went completely dead.

So what was the smell inside the car? It may have been from the jumper cables, but more likely from the febreeze I had recently used to help get rid of the smell of the car. Mix that smell with thinking I had wired something wrong and of course it wasn't going to be good.

Anyway, that's my story of a stupid mistake and all of the problems it caused me. I hope someone else can benefit from it in the future. If by no other means than to be entertained at what an idiot I am.