What Have I Done

[jmk1]

The wifes car had a flat battery. I decided to give it a jump start. I just was 'nt concentrating

and somehow or other I made a mess of connecting the jump leads. I switched my car on.

I then switched the wifes car on, and what happened next was frightening there was a lot of

sparks , then black clouds of smoke came pouring out of the wifes car it must have lasted

at least 10 or 15 seconds, I honestly thought the whole thing was going to go up in flames.

The outcome of all this was my car is fine but the wifes car is knackered. She had just

spent £300 on the car getting it up to scratch prior to putting back on the road( it was on a

sorn and was'nt insured at the time). Can anybody help with suggestions or advice.

jmk1

[bigandygal]

hey,

you have shorted the battery out and in doing so have probably:

knackered the battery
blown a lot of fuses.

hopefully this will be all that is up with it.

andy

[omicron]

I'd recommend a big bunch of flowers, fast

[jmk1]

OK . I have checked all the fuses and none of them have been blown. I also tried a new battery

switched the ignition on absolutely nothing, even the interior light does'nt come on.

Anyone any suggestions or advice as to what I should try next. Any help will

be much appreciated.

JMK!

[pettsy]

melted some of the wiring loom?

what car is it on?

[jmk1]

Cavalier i.8 LX1 E reg 1988 .Prior to me screwing it up it was running perfectly.

jmk1

[JWC]

Don't panic just yet, because you said to connected it up then the sparks came out when you turned it on? This to me would not indicate that you connected it up wrong, because the interior light would work if it was crosspoled. I think you need to invesitate why she got a bat flattery in the first place. From what you said, it could be that there is a fault that has caused it and bringing it back up to voltage has shown you the way. The ECU is protected against reverse polarity, as are most of the systems, lights and stuff don't care. Suggest you look carefully at the cars systems, start with the alternator, which is always connected and unfused, if it goes dead-short which can happen then trying to jumpstart it will just make your jump leads glow!