sheatley

Okay, major mistake. If you said anyone who cannot hook a battery up properly should not be working on a car, I could not argue. Trying however at this point to assess the damages, so here goes:

Had a dead battery. Replaced with a Duralast 48 from Autozone. Hooked up the cables with reversed polarity for about 5 seconds. Did not produce much more than the usual spark but heard a motor activate. Then I noted the cables were reversed. I undid them and set them in correct polarity. After tightening, and buttoning up the battery, I saw smoke from the engine bay. It was coming from the alternator which was melting.

So, the alternator is definitely fried.

What other components can I expect to have lost with this stupidity?

Thanks.

nick49

In the alternator it may just be the diodes that you could replace cheaply. Hopefully the ECU survived, probably the most expensive component that you could have possibly damaged. Now that the polarity is corrected, I don''t know that anything could be damaged by trying to start the car. It will start and run with a damaged alternator, just not charge the battery. GL

sheatley

Thanks Nick. It does start but the gauge shows the battery is not charging at all. Also, the internal
wires in the alternator looked partially melted.
I was thinking of replacing the alternator, and voltage regulator.
Would the new battery have been damaged? Would it suffice to load test it?

Shark Attack

the battery is fine. If the car started.. you are looking pretty good...

I have to say BONE HEAD!!! lol

we have all been there with something so silly.
Replace the alt. Im shocked at alt took a hit to be honest. Most of the smaller electronics have a built in diod to protect them.. I would think fuses may have blown.

Get it running and check it all out Windows, locks. radio. Tail AC heat. vents. lights, ...

Good luck mate.

sheatley

I will be lucky if bone head is the worst comment thrown out on this thread. I deserve it.

This will serve as a lesson to not rush when I am tired on any job, even one as minor as replacing the battery.

tooloud10

Don't worry about it man...I've done the same thing on my Miata. I believe I blew a large fuse but everything still worked. Good luck with the fix!

PJorgen

So that the rest of us can learn, how in the heck did you do this? In my experience, the cables are not long enough to reach the opposite terminals. Did you install the battery wrong-way 'round?

sheatley

I put in a Duralast from Autozone. The terminals are reversed to the OEM. I did check the polarity, but when I spent a little more time trying to be careful not to drop the battery in ( a bit tougher location compared to most cars with batteries in front or on the side) I inserted the Duralast with terminals in front. This made the Duralast have the same configuration as OEM with terminals in front. However, the polarity was reversed.

The proper way for the Duralast is to have the terminals on the back side of the battery.

Lesson to be learned: best not to work when you are super tired, even when the project is simple.

Shark Attack

welll.. you must be a republican.. you are not on here blaming duralast..... for your mistake

You're ok... just putter back together. I am sure things will be fine... If anything happened the CD changer or radio.. I have my oem you can have..yes have as in free. Just cause you can take some ball busting

sheatley

Thanks Kyle. I will take you up on the offer and ask for your old IMS bearing if I find mine somehow melted out as well.

gota911

Just to let you know you aren't that lucky..... dumb ****!!

We have all done something like that in our life time, the only difference is that you posted it on an internet forum for the whole world to see!

Too bad about the alternator.

Dharn55

The OEM battery has the terminal toward the rear of the car, so the Duralast battery actaully is set up the same way the OEM battery is. What made you think to put the terminals toward the front of the car? Did you have a non-standard battery in the car that you replaced?

Mawgie

don't feel too bad. I was able to install a duralast battery without any problems last week, BUT I couldn't remove the mufflers without also removing bunch of bolts I didn't need to touch. Keep moving!

No HTwo O

Sorry this happened to you.

On a related note, can the polarity of a battery maintainer be reversed?

I retro-fitted my battery tender over the weekend to be used in the cigarette lighter vs. the direct connect to the battery. I was extremely careful to make sure I did not reverse the polarity when attaching the new quick disconnect coupler. I tested it on my new Ford Explorer (under warranty) before I tested it on the Porsche. All is good.

Thanks.

sheatley

Doug, you may be correct. I assumed it was OEM battery. More accurate would have been previous battery.