Ok well brillant me was doing some work on the car trying to get the air check valve out, which happens to be somewhat close to my alternator (3.1L). anyway wrench slips, hits the bolt on the back of the alternator where the positive lead is and, of course, the wrench finds a ground where it then proceeds to short out. at this point everything starts to smoke uncontrollably, and i couldnt hit the wrench out of the way to break the connection. the alternator wire caught on fire and a few other things on the way to the battery. i managed to disconnect the negative battery terminal without killing myself and put out the small fires that had started as a result.

damage assesment:

the wire that runs from the back of the alternator, to some kind of binding post near the radiator where 3 other wires were connected, then finally to the positive battery terminal is completely toast. this means i need a new battery cable for the positive side because that alternator lead is attached inside the red rubber part of the connector, i cant just replace the alternator wire. also teh wire that runs from the alternator to the binding post needs to be replaced.

as far as the alternator, what are the chances it survived? it was grounded for about 40-60 seconds i think, hard to say as i was in panic mode when this happened, might have been less i dunno.

the battery is probably toast right? the connections at the battery were also smoking and sizzling when this happened, poured out a lot of smoke.

is there any chance that my starter is now bad? the positive battery cable first stop is at the starter so, i dunno. is there possible damage there?

and finally, the computer. what are the chances that i completely cooked the ecm and other electronics/sensors in the car? the key was off when this happened if if makes any difference.

Does the positive wire from the batt go directly to the starter and bolt up there? is there any fusible links that it goes through or anything or does that big fat wire just bolt directly to the starter? havent had a chance to check that out yet.


any inputs on this is apperciated.

 

just checked my fuse box, nothing is blown. are there fuses anywhere else in the car/under the hood that i should check?

 

on the started on the bigger post of the 2 (somet times 3.. one big post and two small) you will see the bigger wire (i think its liek a 4 awg wire and you will see i thing two other wires. on then you will see like a little white box on them. thats the fuseable link. and thats what runs to the indeos of the car i believe. so if you blewn the fuseable link there then the rest of the car will be dead. that fuseablre link should blow before you fry the ECM. i could be wrong.... lets what the other post and see

 

sorry to hear that

 

camaro girl keeps following me around......i like it LoL

 

edit~~ :sillylol: yep im ur stalker lmao.....u know what, l*** me---lol!!:lala:

 

I wouldn't worry about the ECM, you didn't short the ECM, you shorted the power before it got to the ECM.

I'd say the battery is toast if it was smoking. For the alternator, I dunno, take it out and look at it.... It might be rebuildable if you feel like doing that.

And finally.... Am I the only one with a plastic cover on the big fat terminal on the alternator? I couldn't figure out what it was until I tapped it and it was plastic.

Good luck man!

 

alright some updates, battery tested good. i brung the alternator to 2 places and it was bad. so i guess im out an alternator and battery cable so far... gonna check out a junkyard to see if i can pull a battery cable from a thirdgen. should i take my chances on a junkyard alternator? i can go have it tested at pepboys/napa before i isntall it, and it'll probably have a warrenty on it from the junkyard for a few days so i can return it if its no good.

 

you get what you pay for

 

well im having a hard time finding the positive batt cable, if anyone has one please read my classified. https://www.thirdgen.org/classifieds...tgo?adid=27111

if i dont get any responces by tonight im gonna go pull on out of a junkyard tomorrow.