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Re-read your original post. Re: the battery you bought. Are your sure you bought a replacement battery with the terminals in the same position as the old one? Are you certain that you placed the neg cable to the neg battery post and the pos [thick] cable to the pos battery post? If yes to both, placing the neg cable first and then the pos cable would cause only a very small spark and you might hear a relay or two click. If you got a big scary spark and now nothing works, you connected the cables to the wrong battery posts and blew out high amp fuses. When you reconnected the terminals, you didn't get sparks because there's no current, fuses are already blown.
Re-read your original post. Re: the battery you bought. Are your sure you bought a replacement battery with the terminals in the same position as the old one? Are you certain that you placed the neg cable to the neg battery post and the pos [thick] cable to the pos battery post? If yes to both, placing the neg cable first and then the pos cable would cause only a very small spark and you might hear a relay or two click. If you got a big scary spark and now nothing works, you connected the cables to the wrong battery posts and blew out high amp fuses. When you reconnected the terminals, you didn't get sparks because there's no current, fuses are already blown.
Yeah that's a good point. It's entirely possible that she has the wrong battery with positive and negative terminal locations swapped.
Really there's quite a number of possibilities. And it'll take some on-site time by somebody who knows what they're doing to check those possibilities.
Are you sure you are connecting positive to positive and negative to negative?
I blew out the alternator and voltage regulator on a car one time, because some joker had switched the red and black caps on the terminals of a battery I bought. Maybe this was done in the store or maybe at the factory? I should have looked carefully and I would have avoided that.
I had two batteries blow up in my face when I was young and dumb. That was back in the early 1960's. One I was jumping a 12 volt to a 6 volt and one I simply overheated trying to jump. I was extremely lucky in both cases that I had water very close to me and immediately showered. My clothes turned to rags when I tried to wash them in both cases. What most people do not realize is how loud a battery explosion can be. It sounds as if a 12 gauge shotgun just went off in your hands. The plastic from the battery case goes flying and I was also lucky none hit my eyes.
When jumping a battery I am now a firm believer in making the last connection to a ground point away from the battery. I always connect my positive cables first; taking care not to touch a ground and verifying (on the battery) that I do indeed have the right terminal. I also remove the cable to the ground first when disconnecting.
Learning the many horror stories such as yours, I have taken a very strong stand against any form of "battery jumping" . . . and I no longer carry Jumper Cables in any of my vehicles.
Not only due to the dangers to anyone involved but also to the vehicle's super sensitive electronics . . . my AAA Membership or a Dealer Visit is the only way to go.
People....she hooked up the battery to the wrong terminals. Period.
Hooking up the cables in the wrong order didn't do anything. The cables were connected to the wrong terminals.
Read the OP's post carefully before you start guessing.
1st thing to do is take off the alternator and go have it tested at the auto parts store. Install a new one. Power for much of the system goes thru the alternator...if it is fried, no power is going thru it to make other things work.
Best of luck, OP.
Just in case anybody here is unaware... the correct order for connecting battery cables and the reason for it:
1. Connect the positive cable.
2. Connect the negative cable.
This is the 'correct' order because it avoids any possibility of grounding and sparking the wrench used to tighten the battery connections. For instance if you reversed this sequence, the wrench you use to tighten the positive cable would spark violently if it touched the chassis (ground) while tightening the positive connection. And to my knowledge, that's the *only* reason that this 'correct sequence' exists. As long as you're careful and don't ground the wrench tightening the hot cable, you can reverse this sequence with no I'll effects... it's just slightly unsafe is all.
It doesn't usually happen, but vehicles can occasionally blow a fuse when jump started. More so if a wrench was sparked. So simply connecting a new battery - even correctly - could cause a voltage spike and blow a fuse. Especially if the headlights (or anything high current) are turned on. It's not too likely, but it is possible.
I hope the OP comes back and tells us what the problem was. I still think we're looking at a blown fuse, crusty cable, etc. Major electronic components do bite the dust on occasion, but for every case with a dead ECM or the like, there are five or ten cases with blown fuses, crusty electrical connections, etc. And without getting in there and checking stuff, the two types of failures can look very similar or identical.
Just in case anybody here is unaware... the correct order for connecting battery cables and the reason for it:
1. Connect the positive cable.
2. Connect the negative cable.
This is the 'correct' order because it avoids any possibility of grounding and sparking the wrench used to tighten the battery connections. For instance if you reversed this sequence, the wrench you use to tighten the positive cable would spark violently if it touched the chassis (ground) while tightening the positive connection. And to my knowledge, that's the *only* reason that this 'correct sequence' exists. As long as you're careful and don't ground the wrench tightening the hot cable, you can reverse this sequence with no I'll effects... it's just slightly unsafe is all.
^^^This.
I have a wrench with a small chunk missing from the handle because I didn't follow this rule. While tightening the positive post with the negative already on, the wrench handle touched the side of the car. A brief bit of arc-welding ensued.
Learning the many horror stories such as yours, I have taken a very strong stand against any form of "battery jumping" . . . and I no longer carry Jumper Cables in any of my vehicles.
Not only due to the dangers to anyone involved but also to the vehicle's super sensitive electronics . . . my AAA Membership or a Dealer Visit is the only way to go.
Thankfully . . . you guys were OK.
That did not stop me from jumping batteries. I just work a little smarter now. Of course there are not too many 6 volt car batteries around anymore. The old 6 volt batteries had twice the amperage of the 12 volt batteries and would overheat and blow up any 12 volt batteries you tried to jump.
Of course, if I was real smart, I would only attempt jumping with safety googles and a full face shield. Maybe next lifetime!
As turkey-head points out the correct sequence; keep in mind that you do not have to connect to the negative terminal of the battery. The farther away from the battery you make your ground connection; the less likely you would trigger an explosion from the battery's hydrogen gas.
Even when charging batteries; always disconnect the charger from the outlet before disconnecting from the battery. Also use a ground and the same sequence.
I like to fan any battery I have had charging for some time. I do not know if it makes a difference? But I have felt it was safer to try to dissipate the hydrogen gas before attempting any connections. At least I have not had any other accidents in almost fifty years.
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