ATTN RB83L69: Need your help badly
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 289
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From: Detroit,MI
ATTN RB83L69: Need your help badly...I think I shorted out my whole car
This is a continuation of my post yesterday about my car refusing to crank.
i took your advice and jumped the starter terminals with a remote starter switch, and the car cranked. But then one of the little alligator clips popped off the terminal it was on. So I crawled under the car and replaced it. When I tried to crank the engine again, I got nothing. Now there is absolutely no power in the system. No lights, horn, windows, nothing works now.
Did I short out my entire car?
This has actually happened to me before, and I fixed it by removing and replacing every ground under the hood. i tried that today, but with no luck.
The grounds I undid were:
-1 DS and 1 PS on the radiator support
-Engine to firewall ground strap
-a black one that i believe is part of the HVAC wiring
-black wire from NEG battery cable to fender support
-NEG battery cable to alternator bracket
What should I do to fix the short? Any ideas what may have caused it?
Any help here is really appreciated. Thanks in advance.
i took your advice and jumped the starter terminals with a remote starter switch, and the car cranked. But then one of the little alligator clips popped off the terminal it was on. So I crawled under the car and replaced it. When I tried to crank the engine again, I got nothing. Now there is absolutely no power in the system. No lights, horn, windows, nothing works now.
Did I short out my entire car?
This has actually happened to me before, and I fixed it by removing and replacing every ground under the hood. i tried that today, but with no luck.
The grounds I undid were:
-1 DS and 1 PS on the radiator support
-Engine to firewall ground strap
-a black one that i believe is part of the HVAC wiring
-black wire from NEG battery cable to fender support
-NEG battery cable to alternator bracket
What should I do to fix the short? Any ideas what may have caused it?
Any help here is really appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Last edited by MotorCityMuscle; Sep 17, 2002 at 06:03 PM.
Supreme Member
Joined: Jul 1999
Posts: 18,457
Likes: 16
From: Loveland, OH, US
Car: 4
Engine: 6
Transmission: 5
OK, I'll help badly....
Most likely, a fusible link is at fault. Probably the clip touched the wrong things at the same time.
The links are a piece of wire, about 14 gauge, that acts like a fuse to protect the high power part of the car's wiring. There are 2 of them: they go from a ring terminal that goes on the large post on the starter along with the battery cable, to the 2 big red wires that carry power to different parts of the car's electrical system. About half of the electrical system is fed by each.
It shouldn't be too hard to figure out which one is bad, it's probably burned in half. Cut it off from the big red wire, splice a new one on with a crimp terminal (or soldering if you can), and put a 3/8" ring terminal on it to hook back up to the starter. You should be able to get the "fusible link wire" at NAPA or the like, I don't know if Auto Zone or CSK or any of those carries it in bulk, or if maybe they have pre-made ones you just splice onto the wire.
So, at least you know now that your starter is good, and your battery is OK, and the batt cable is OK.
Most likely, a fusible link is at fault. Probably the clip touched the wrong things at the same time.
The links are a piece of wire, about 14 gauge, that acts like a fuse to protect the high power part of the car's wiring. There are 2 of them: they go from a ring terminal that goes on the large post on the starter along with the battery cable, to the 2 big red wires that carry power to different parts of the car's electrical system. About half of the electrical system is fed by each.
It shouldn't be too hard to figure out which one is bad, it's probably burned in half. Cut it off from the big red wire, splice a new one on with a crimp terminal (or soldering if you can), and put a 3/8" ring terminal on it to hook back up to the starter. You should be able to get the "fusible link wire" at NAPA or the like, I don't know if Auto Zone or CSK or any of those carries it in bulk, or if maybe they have pre-made ones you just splice onto the wire.
So, at least you know now that your starter is good, and your battery is OK, and the batt cable is OK.
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