Battery hookup

My car was not starting 1 out of every 10 X, so I had the battery (new)
taken out and checked , it was good, now to hook it back up ????? there
are 3 wires..1 to +, 1 to -, and a 3rd wire...brown. Tried hooking to each
side now absolutely NO power at all to the car, none zip nada.
HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Sounds like you fried the fusible link (been there, done that). You
need to replace it and hook the extra wire to the proper terminal.
The fusible link is basically a fuse that looks like a small thin
strip of metal and rated to 40-50 amps. If you're going to go mucking
around under the hood, you should get a good service manual,
preferably a Helm:

http://www.helminc.com

nb

 

What year and model? You mean, even the dome light is not coming on?
Three wires? Do you mean that you have two wires that are attached to
battery terminals and a third just floating around?
Are you sure you didn't hook the battery up backwards my mistake? It
could also be that you jossled the ground connection off the bolt going
to the frame.

There should be two screw on terminals:
The negative (normally black) usually has one fat wire under the
terminal's screws. This negative wire is should be short and goes to a
pretty good size bolt that is attached to the body of the car or a
piece on the frame.
The positive (usually red) often has two wires under the terminal's
wire screws - one fat wire often goes to the starter, the other to the
under hood fuse box.

Remco

 

It's a 1988 Prelude. And yes..not even the dome light comes on. The battery
can only go in one way to hook the cables up otherwise cables don't reach.
The 'extra' wire is a thin brown one..looks like it's running into a fuse
box, we tried hooking it up on both sides still nothing. I know one cable
runs to the underneath of my motor. Sears said my connectors at the end of
the wire that hooks on the battery was bad and changed them, and my car
hasn't ran right since. My car was running when I parked it there!

 

--------------------------------

There's your problem. _S_E_A_R_S_

You should have mentioned that in the first place.

When did it last run? Have you talked to 'THEM' yet?

'Curly'

 

Ok, so now it isn't starting at all or just not running right? I was
under the impression the car is totally dead after they messed with it.

If the car ran before and hasn't run since Sears touched it, clearly
they messed it up the wiring.
Those terminals can go bad and may have been in need of replacement,
but you can argue with them that before they did their
bringing-good-things-to-life-miracle the car at least started and all
electrical things (like the dome light) worked.
What good is replacing bad terminals that at least worked with good
terminals that do not? Be nice, but ask firmly and don't back off.

If they are not willing to help, do you know someone that knows about
electrical things? I ask because it will require some savy in that
area. We can probably talk you through things to check if so.

Remco

 

After Sears replaced the battery and the metal ends on the wires, I was
driving the car..that's when the not starting 1 in 10X thing started. My
friend took my battery out and took it back to Sears to see if it had a
dead cell..they said it was fine..now from there I don't know if the
"brown wire" got accidently hooked up with the neg side instead of the pos
or what..in either event, by the time I could get out and look for
myself..my car was/is at the absolutely 'no power' stage. I put the brown
wire with the positive cable and retightened everything..but still have
nothing powering up, not even the oil lights when you turn the key. It's
been parked for the last 4 weeks doing nothing.

 

Sears must have messed up. Take the metal ends (battery connector) off
the battery so you won't create a spark. Then loosen them from the
wires (one at a time so you can't confuse what goes where).
They probably have bolts that hold the wires so loosen them and reseat
the wires so that the wire metal makes proper contact with the
connector. It could be that sears has crimped the wires with its
insulation (plastic) under those bolts. Only the wire's bare metal
should be held under the fastener of those metal ends.

Do you know anyone that knows about electrical things? If so, ask
him/her if he has a volt meter ( or buy a cheap one - ironically, Sears
has one .
We might be able to talk him/her through checking things.

Remco

 

OK...fusible link and one fuse blown...changed them...fusible link blew IMM
again, switched the brown wire back to neg side link didn't blow but still
No power

 

actually it seems as though they put some cheap connectors . on the
wires...so I got new ones and put them on..also replaced the positive
cable, 1 fuse , 2 fusible links (same one twice)Are you referring to a
"multimeter"? If so where would I start after I got one?

 

Multimeter, good. So you have a basic understanding of electricity,
right?

I just noticed your other post, stating the fuseable link and fuse was
blown. Was that blown after you experimented with that unknown brown
wire?
With all fuses and links in tact you still don't have any power
(including radio, dome light, etc), correct?

If you can identify where that unknown brown wire goes by physically
following it, that would be useful. How thick would you say that wire
is? It could be that a previous owner added this for a two way radio,
amp, alarm system, etc. Maybe post a picture of where it seems to go,
to help us identify it.
We'lll ignore that wire for now - since we don't really know if it
belongs on the negative post, disconnect it and put a bit of tape on it
so it doesn't short against anything.
Btw, It may not have been a good idea to just short it against
terminals so let's hope you didn't blow something important up.

First make sure you measure 12V across the battery. If you don't your
battery is having issues.

Measure the voltage on the postive side of the battery and the frame
(find a large unpainted bolt and hook your multimeter negative lead to
it - the engine should also be a good point to use) .You should see
12V.

{ ////// do this if you don't see 12V //////////

Check the negative cable from the battery to the frame. It is held in
under a pretty beefy bolt on the frame. Disconnect the battery, loosen
and clean the negative cable.

}

else

{ //////// do this if you do see !2V ///////////

First double check to make sure all fuses and fuseable links are in
tact.

On most cars, the IGN fuse is often live at all times, regarldless of
whether your key is turned. Usually that is a good candidate to use for
the following test.
If your headlights or radio are able stay on with the key out, use that
fuse instead.

Measure voltage from the frame to this live fuse. You should see 12V on
one side of it so you may need to remove to fuse to get to its
contacts.

If you don't see 12V on this fuse, check the wire going from the
battery to the fuse box - it is a big one. It could be that you missed
a larger fuseable link or that the wire only looks like it is hooked up
- maybe the insulation is pinched under the battery connector, causing
the wire to not be electrically conneced.

If you do see 12V on this fuse, power is clearly getting to your fuse
box and the basic hookup of the battery is correct. Report back with
your findings.

}