Help! Battery questions

[Hdale85]

Is there any kind of protection on these newer explorers to protect against hooking up a battery backwards??? My battery was shot and a friend was helping me out and used one he had but it was a different type and the posts were opposite of the old battery and he hooked them up and they were backwards. When I hooked them up the right way everything seems to turn on like normal but it won't turn over? There is a relay that clicks like crazy and the power goes out it seems.

 

[corkey]

it's a bad connection, clean them ends hook them up again,,

 

[Sedition]

reverse polarity

If the cable connections are not dirty or loose, Check the battery voltage.

Try to tell us as much as you can remember about what actions were taken in the time between the battery being hooked up in reverse and then corrected.

Say for instance; were the keys in the ignition?, were the doors open? did you turn the key to on? did you attempt to start your truck? ect...

 

[Hdale85]

Keys were in the ignition, door was open, and he tried to turn it over.

 

[Sedition]

First thing to check would be the starter fuse and relay, also check the other fusable links under the hood. Fuses are designed to protect electrical systems. A reverse polarity is very harsh on electrical systems.

 

[Hdale85]

How do you check a relay? The car is being towed back to my house next week so I can't do much now, I'm just wondering how serious this issue is....I'm hoping it's not that bad.

 

[Sedition]

Easiest way is to check a relay is to just change it with a known good one and see if it will turn over.

Its hard to tell how serious it is by sitting here although if the stereo, lights and other accessories still work that is a good sign. If you did not see any smoke or smell burning this is also good.

Best Case Scenario: A few fuses blew out without burning out any electrical equipment. Replace burned fuses and continue on your way.

Worst Case Scenario: Most electrical systems are toast, the ones that you do fix lead you to find intermittent problems with others. A very costly and time consuming process.

Start with trying to get the engine to crank, checking fuses relays and the starter its self. you can get a cheap multimeter from Wal-Mart for $15 to check continuity, voltages and resistances in your electrical equipment. If you then manage to get it to crank but not start, check the Ignition, fuel pump ect.

If you take it to a shop they probably wont want to do this work as it is hard to guarantee any work done and can be a real pain to fault find all issues, so they will just "tell" you its toast.

Good luck with it. If you require any furthur advice on anything do not hesitate to ask, I am always happy to help out.

 

[turborich]

Anyone who hooks a battery up backwards should not own a vehicle. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Hdale85]

Well as I said it was not me, but either way the battery was different and laid out backwards from the other one.

 

[swshawaii]

+ -

 

[Hdale85]

Turns out it's just a loose connection, the terminals are crazy bad looking so just going to buy some more and put them on. So now just to figure out the other issue that was already there before all this lol.