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Hello all,
I have a friend that ran into a little problem with her 96 Ford Ranger yesterday. The battery was dead due to her leaving something on in the truck. She and her friend tried to jump start the truck; when she put jumper cables on, she crossed them hot on ground and visa versa. Yep, a dumb ass thing to do. when they hooked up to the other car battery, they let the smoke out of it so to speak. They then placed the cables on right, and when she tried to start the Ranger, ALL power was gone with the wind. I mean NO electrical power what so ever on the truck. The battery is still good, but no power. They came to me, but since I’m in school all of my tools are there i.e. multimeter and power probe. I told her there is no way I could tell with out the right tools, but I thought a resistor, fuse or relay had been blown or maybe the ECU. The local shop wants $1,000 to fix the problem, but didn’t pinpoint the problem for her. Off the top of your heads, what do you think it may be?
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A few leaps of logic there.
When they put the cables on the right way, how do you know the cables were still good? How do you know there was current flowing into the battery?
Items like the dome light and headlights are hooked up directly through a simple switch and will always work even after a reversal.
So my guess is they used very thin jumper cables, the Dollar Store variety, and they burnt up the cables.
1k to repair? Sounds like they want to replace the ECM…. I would start at the main fuse and work back from there…
I agree with toyotakarl you need to atleast obtain a cheap test light and check all your fuses especially your main fuse as stated above…. jumping a vehicle the wrong way bad things can happen hopefully a couple fuses are the only problem
Check the main fuse for sure. It most likely popped first before doing damage to anything else, although it’s possible it could have spiked to the ECU as well. I’ve run across multiple people in my old shop who have tried charging or jumping batteries and crossing + and -. Everytime i saw it, it blew the main relay/fuse (100a+) every single time.
Also to share some stories… I had a person try to change their own alternator and said they changed it and it blew sparks everywhere… He had to have it towed in because nothing had any power after that. When I popped the hood, there was a 3/8s ratchet still on the battery + line on the back of the alternator and it had started to ‘weld’ itself to the firewall. It ended up blowing the main fuse as well.
Also had an older gentleman who had tried to help his stranded daughter with a dead battery. He ended up hooking up the battery cable correctly to his car, but incorrectly at her car. He ended up melting the ground cable in his car, and a few fuses in his daughter’s car. I felt bad for the guy just trying to help and having to have both cars towed to us as well as needing a taxi ride home and a rental for the day for both of them while we fixed their cars.
Let us know what you find. It bothers me that the shop you went to wants to charge you $1,000 without even giving you a valid reason behind what needs to be changed. Sounds like they spun the ‘diagnostic wheel’ and say you need an ECM without even doing any quality diagnostic work.
The battery was checked along with everything that each of you had suggested. What had happened, she had fried the battery cables. Once replaced, it was ok. Thanks for the tips. One thing is for sure, without the right tools on hand, and easy job becomes complicated.
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