Battery and Cable Fiasco : )
 

So, in an attempt to display my utmost stupidity today, I disconnected the battery cables off my 87 NA in the wrong order (not on purpose). And to be honest I don't know if that caused my problems, or what follows. I sparked the dickens out of myself with my wratchet handle/socket while loosening the nut that clamps the positive battery cable connector. It arced from my wratchet to the power steering bracket thingy. :shocking: In short... I ended up blowing my Main 80A fuse and god knows what else... I'm thinking an assortment of cabin fuses as well since my stereo and interior lights are not working.

So, first question... anybody have any ideas what else might have popped?

I'm really worried about the stereo : ) It's worth half the value of the car! lol I won't have time to look until late tomorrow night.

And an unrelated question... well at least this car, it's another car, a TII. My positive battery cable connector... the metal ring that connects to the positive battery bost... it is broken... presumably because of overtightening by me. It really didn't look very tight before it snapped.

Now, question #2... can I get a new ring connector replaced on the cable or must I buy a whole new cable? I think the connector alone would be the cheapest fix.

Bad Day. :wallbash:

Josh

Yeeeaahhh, sup Josh. Likely everything was protected by fuses. Just check out your 'audio', 'room' fuses etc. Just check 'em all. :) There's also probably a fuse in the back of the CD player that you can check if the other one's don't appear to be blown.

You can also buy an assortment of battery connector/clamp thingy's at any autoparts store. You can get nice one's for pretty cheap ($5.00-10.00). You don't need the whole cable.

Yeeeaahhh, word up Erik. I'll get around to checking all the fuses sometime this week... the battery cable connector is more urgent because I have to keep driving the TII to break it in! Yikes! Thanks for the help though; you verified all of my suspicions... hope this is the case!

Oh yea, the TPS replacement prior to my fiasco went smooth as butter. :) My luck... and I even KNOW better than to fool with the + cable before taking off the - ... Oh well, that's what rushing does for you... live and learn -- RX-7 style!

Josh

We've covered this several times in the last few months. Try searching for "battery backwards" or "battery reversed".

Thanks Erik and Aaron... I put a new terminal on the + terminal of the TII today. I'm surprised how much smoother it starts and idles now... just because of the connection at the battery! Very cool. Still haven't had time to check all the fuses in the other car... priorities... I'll do it tomorrow with the other 1,000 things I have to do : ) I did get the 80A Main fuse, however, and the NA runs fine.

Oh, and just to clarify... I didn't put the battery terminals on backwards... I simply took them off in the wrong order... and it sparked/arced... whatever, etc. So, if I was a noob... which I sort of am... I wouldn't have known to search for "battery backwards" or "battery reversed" because that's not what I did.

And I did search prior to posting... however I only got about 3 hits... one of which was helpful. So, I thought I'd post for clarification. See ya.

Josh

So the TPS fixed the *light* throttle hestitation issues? :eek:

there's a wrong order in taking out the batteries?? i've disconeccted the positive first then the negative and vice versa and i never had a problem. i just make sure that not to touch a ground when disconecting the positive.

no papi, the neg. ALWEAYS first.the positive canshort itself neg cant.

hmm....ok...i know for next time.

Generally you remove negative first so that you avoid shorting the positive to the frame of the car as you remove it with the wrench. There's no technical or electrical reason to remove negative first so doing so will not cause harm.

i figured as long as you dont have one, you cant have the other - i.e. disconnect the + first and there's no power to ground or disconnect the - first and there's nothing to ground the +

Reminds me of a story from my youth...
 

For what it's worth, this can be very dangerous. When I was a kid at baseball practice, one of the Mom's car wouldn't start. Coach was a Ford dealership mechanic. He took a look, determined that the positive cable was corroded. As he unbolted the positive cable, his wedding ring was touching the wrench. All it took was one contact with the grounded metal along side the battery box. POW! the arc burned his ring into the finger. He lost that finger. It made quite an impression on an 8 year old baseball team.

2 lessons: Take off your jewelry before working on any part of your car and take the ground terminal off the battery first.

Actually some Bosch alternators used in Rear engined Porsche product will pop the diodes in the alt if the positive is hooked up last when installing a battery.

The good rule of thumb is:

Negitive off first, Negitive on last

I agree with Icemark on Negative off first and Negative on last... this is what I usually do, but I was rushing and wasn't paying attention :( So, yea... I have personally proven any other order is not a good idea.

And to Erik... yes, the TPS light throttle "bouncing" is gone : )

Is this one connection to the battery or two (one for the alternator and one for the starter)? This is the first time I've ever heard of such a thing. I guess I could see it with two connections if one half is disconnected the diodes can try to shunt WAY too much current....

But anyway in the FC it doesn't matter electrically, only as a matter of safety. :)