Need help with electrical problem

[gatemaster]

my son was driving my car and left the lights on. not paying attention he crossed the jumper cables on the tercel not the other car doing the jumping. He then tried to start the car before he relized the jumper cables were starting to smoke and melt. The other car is fine but the tercel is dead. I put a another battery in and nothing. I found one fuseable link burnt(60 amp). I tried shorting across the two spades after removing the burnt link it to see if that was the problem but it made no difference. i see nothing else wrong. all fuses have been checked and are fine. No wires are burnt. I live out of town so next time I go I will replace the link. The link is just two spades, a positive and a negative so I thought crossing the two should be the same as a new link, so I am confused. Any ideas or suggestions would be most appreciated.

[Petros]

I had my old wire bundle short (the old brittle insulation cracked off and the bare wires touched), and it blew the fuesable link. All it took was to wrap the forks of the fuse with a foil gum wrapper and it worked again. You might follow the power path from the battery, through the main fuse box and into the sub fuse panel with a volt meter to see where it stopped. There might be a fusible link somewhere that also went. I do not think a brief contact with 24 volts will burn out the whole car, but it is possible. More likely some else melted and caused the circuit to open.]

Good luck.

[takza]

Somebody wanted me to repair an old Chrysler where they had crossed the cables when hooking up the battery (no other car involved)...a big bundle of wires under the dash was melted together. Since your battery was almost gone...probably about the same thing?

Easy mistake to make...major problems if you make it?

I always use RED tape or whatever on the positive battery cable.

[splatterdog]

Last time I saw a polarity inversion, the "battery" store bought the vehicle from their victim. At least your car is much more primitive and without melted wires(did you check underdash?).

Define dead. Nothing at all, crank no start, any lights or accessories work?

Otherwise, just like petros said, follow the power from the battery.

Sounds like your son needs a refresher course in vehicle operation or a AAA card. At least neither of the batteries exploded.

Good luck!

[Petros]

splatterdog makes a good point. I have seen batteries explode like a bomb when the wires were crossed. When I was in elementary school some of my friends were fishing off the dock in the marina. The owner of a large motor cruiser boat was changing the battery and he crossed the wires, the battery exploded and blew the transom off the boat and it sank, the owner was thrown in the air, unconscious and covered with battery acid. My friends ran over and went into the water to pull the guy over to the dock. When the local rescue crew arrived they credited them with saving the owners life, it was even in the news papers. So later when in high school auto shop class I did not need to be lectured about he dangers of car batteries. Every once in a while I find some idiot who "tests" the charge of his car battery by laying a wrench or something similar across the terminals, and they will always get a VERY firm lecture from me about the outright stupidity of doing such an act. It is a good way to wreck the battery, the car and get yourself blinded or killed.

[scouttster]

Walking home from a night of drinking one night, I stepped behind a dumpster of a gas station and proceeded to urinate... ON A FULLY CHARGED TRUCK BATTERY! Oh Boy, did I get a shock of a wake up call! How did I know, it was dark as all hell back there... I'll never forget that...

[gatemaster]

the only thing I found so far was a 60 amp fusibile link in the engine compartment fuse box. but replacing that didn't change anything. i found no burnt wires or fuses under the dash or in the engine compartment except for that one. The one odd thing I noticed was that with the bad fuse link installed the head light relay clicks when I turn the head light switch on. but when I replaced the bad fuse the head light relay didn't click but that is the only differnce I noticed, other wise the system is still dead.

[gatemaster]

I replaced a 60 amp fusibile link and the main relay in the engine compartment. i jump started the car and all seems well. Even the battery wasn't damaged.