So yeah, a 2 second job turns into a nightmare. Now I have no power at all. Had a good spark show for a second but everything seemed fine. I went to turn over the car thinking everything was fine. I could have SWORE I heard a tick in the inside fuse box, but none of the fuses under the panel sound like anything that would cause this to not give me lights.

Things I've tried:

Swapped in old battery to make sure it wasn't dead.
Replaced the 80amp battery fuse.
Pulled fuel pump fuse #11 (read somewhere on hear it may power the PCM/ECU)
Pulled every fuse that I could see if it was blown and they all looked fine.
Jumpstart.
Moved around the black box (relay-looking) fuses.

Can anyone point me in the right direction on how to get my car working again? I don't think I fried the computer, because I should still be able to receive power to the lights so the car... right?

 

Chances are you blew a fuse or fusible link near the battery. If you have a multimeter or even a test light, it should be fairly simple to track down where the power from the battery stops. (The first step would of course be to make sure the battery still has voltage and wasn't somehow damaged internally.) Tracing things back from there, check that the wires coming off the positive connector have voltage present. There are a couple of fuse-like things in this assembly, which I assume you already realized and maybe checked. Also verify that your ground connection from the battery is good.

It is highly doubtful that you damaged the car's computer or anything other than fuses/connections to the battery. A short at the battery would result in less or no power elsewhere in the car, not unexpected power.

 

Thanks for the quick reply Drew, I just went outside again and pulled every fuse that I could see if it was blown and they all looked fine, inside the cabin and near the battery.

 

Also tried to jumpstart it for the hell of it and no dice... I read some blown fuse threads and double checked the ones in the bay, those are all fine.

 

Fuses can look good and still be bad. The best way is to check them (under load) with a meter or at least a test light.

 

interesting, im going to give it a whirl with the voltmeter tomorrow and see what is what!

 

You're not looking for voltage, you're looking for continuity. Don't even have a battery in the car...remove it. Start at the positive battery terminal connection point and see if you get a reading down at the "hot" starter connection. If not, then a fuse link in the positive battery wire is burned out, which means the vehicle is getting zero battery power.

 

Always disconnect the negative post first, and ensure that the positive post is covered or shielded at all times. Once the negative is disconnected, ensure that the wire/cable does not "rest" on the battery terminal. Only then do you disconnect the positive side. Install the new battery in reverse. And creating sparks can result in a battery explosion.

 

I'm going to second the multimeter suggestion. Big fuses like the main fuses can look good visually when damaged but not be solid enough to provide enough current. It's happened to me before on another car when I accidentally dropped a wrench on the starter contacts

 

You can do that but be aware that I have seen many, many fuses show good using the ohm meter / continuity function but then open up under load. So if everything shows up good using the ohm meter, then hook up the battery again and look for voltage instead. Light bulbs will sometimes do the same thing

I did not suggest using the ohmmeter because of this possible under load fuse failure. Also you can not use a test light with the battery disconnected.

You will probably find the problem using the resistance/ continuity check with the battery disconnected. It is just another way of finding the failure.

Good luck

 

Yes, you're right, that's why multimeter... if the fuse visually looks good a resistance measurement will probably not work anyway, because there will still be continuity, there just might not be enough of the link left to conduct the required current.

You may get lucky checking continuity but IMO it's best to just skip the step and go straight to voltage checks like n9cv said. No need to do double work.

 

i'm an idiot. i checked all the fuses EXCEPT the one on the battery. i assumed the 80amp in the triangle box under the hood was the battery fuse.

used the old fuse that i just replaced, started right up.

thanks everyone who commented!

 

Great.
You got it fixed.
That is what counts in the end.
How you got there is not that important.

 

for the next fit freakers who need this, there is a fuse under the red cap on the battery!

once you unclip the red cap, it is a little bit of a booger to remove the plastic housing it sits in to remove the fuse, but its doable even in the pitch black and freezing temperatures

 

What's sad is that a team of engineers decided that the best place for a fuse was...

 

Glad you got it figured out

 

For the main fuse, I think they made the right decision. The fuse is there to protect the wiring (and prevent a fire) in the case of a short circuit in the main wiring harness. To do that properly, the fuse ought to be as close to the battery as reasonably possible; otherwise, a short in the wire leading to the fuse would have nothing to prevent real trouble.

In the case of the original poster, it may well have prevented the wrench from being melted or at least welded to the battery terminals, and perhaps the battery from exploding. A fuse further down the wire would not have done that.