My battery apparently was not tied down as well as it should have been, and slid enough on it's tray to have the positive (+) on the battery come in contact with the metal tie down. The truck shut down and would not start back up. There was ZERO power in the car, no alarm, no map lights, nada. I was able top jump it and it idled fine. Turn it off, ZERO power again.

I have no idea how old the battery is, and starts have been somewhat sluggish but nothing to worry about.

My questions is this = What other damage could I have caused in shorting out the battery like this? No blown fuses that I found, but can my alternator be fried? I am putting a new battery in it tonight, just preparing myself

thanks

 

check the MAIN fuses (already done),fusable links,switches and relays. And also the circuit breaker. I believe your truck has 1....but I could be wrong, I don't know anything 'bout the '96's or the 3.4l....
>T<

 

Since the positive post slid into the hold-down, I doubt that any fuses or fusible links were affected. They were effectively bypassed by the direct short on the terminal. You could try to trickle charge the battery and see if it will hold a charge...Worth a try anyway.

Otherwise, put a new battery in it...An Optima if you're gonna be wheeling it. I had a regular battery leak on my frame from the rough treatment. Then went to a Champion battery that had a spiral design like the Optima, but only lasted 15 months. Sam's Club replaced it with a yellow top Optima.

 

I agree with gwhayduke, the short should have bi-passed all your wireing and just shorted its self. As long as no fuses were bolwn your set. Grab your slef and Optima and tie that sucker down good.

 

He said his engine was running, remember? That thing called alternator spinning and all that other good stuff...

 

because he said that he was able to jump it, and it ran, then after he turned it off it wouldn't start, shows that the alt. is still charging, i sure the alt. would be OK, because when the battery's positive post found ground, it instantly took away power from everything else including the alternators field coil, which would stop the output instantly

 

Here goes...

Me being the dumb ______ that I am just got an optima redtop from advanced autoparts... and yeah... I'm that dumb **** that hooked the terminals on wrong because I was excited and pulled the caps off before I put in in the truck and just put it in the way it looked like it should go. SWEET. To make a long story short... hah, short... All I ended up doing was bloing the main 160amp fuse (it melted the terminals around the post inside the fuse box) and the "convienance" fuse, which leads to the stereo head unit and the interior lights. I'm one lucky mofo... I'm lucky to have a running truck right now, but... thanks to smart people to help make up for stupid ****s like me. If things seem right, they probably are. I had a small charging problem at first with my new bigger alt but I'm going to run a new ground and see if that helps.

 

I'm on board with this theory. I wouldn't worry.

 

thanks guys for your input. I threw a new battery in it last night and runnin' like a champ again today. Just happy there was no other damage here

 

Do me a favor and on cold start up put a dmm on the battery with engine at around 1500 rpm. What voltage is it sitting at doing that?

 

You probably just ruined some of the plates in the battery by effectively "welding" with it.
As was mentioned this should not have hurt anything else in the process.

.....hooking up a battery reverse polatiry however can do alot of damage so everyone be careful in that respect.

 

Ever think for yourself?

1.) Are you implying that the field coils are powered by the battery once the engine is running?

2.) Shorting positive terminal to ground would only short the regulator, in effect telling the alternator "there is a very high load". Not correct? And what do you think the alternator does in response?

 

this happened to me once, hit a speed bump and my pos post hit the hold down

it ended up frying some of my ground wires, the one that connects the engine to the body, the one that connects the battery to the body and the other one that connects the oil pan to the body

replaced all of those and the battery and it was good to go

i have since relocated the battery to the bed