I fried something...

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72valiant

72valiant

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I just screwed up something electrical in my 72 Valiant. I mistakenly left my lights on all day while I was at work. One of my co-workers tried to jump me off but the battery was to dead. A local Advance Auto Parts gave me a loaner battery to use while they charged mine. Well, I was eager to get home and was in quite a hurry because I had to be at my second job in two hours, and wanted to rest some. In my rush I hooked the positive cable up to the negative and vise versa. I immediately heard something frying and saw smoke coming from a place next to my distributor where a bunch of wires are plugged into the firewall. The car seems fine but now my radio isn't working.

Does any one have any idea what I could have fried, and what I would need to do to fix it? I still a noob with a lot of things regarding my car but I'm eager to learn and fix things. Thanks.
 
Sounds like you fried your fuseable link. I bought a new one from NAPA when I did it. Its a thick wire back on the firewall. You'll know which one it is, it will be the one that looks melted.
 
I'll check and see if that's it. Do you know about how much a replacement is and if it's easy enough for me to install myself? Thanks.
 
You can get a replacement at the Zone, As for repairing it, you should be able to do it yourself just cut out the fried section and crimp connect in the new fusible link. Remember to wrap the connectors with electrical tape
 
I disconnected the fusible link from it's middle connecting part and the entire car went dead. When I plugged it in everything works (that I can tell so far) except the radio. The radio lights up but that's all it does.

I tried pulling it out of it's housing thing in the firewall but it doesn't wanna budge, and I don't wanna break anything else. Will the firewall end come unplugged at all or does it have to be cut? It looks slightly burned near the firewall but not melted.
 
72valiant said:
I disconnected the fusible link from it's middle connecting part and the entire car went dead. When I plugged it in everything works (that I can tell so far) except the radio. The radio lights up but that's all it does.

I tried pulling it out of it's housing thing in the firewall but it doesn't wanna budge, and I don't wanna break anything else. Will the firewall end come unplugged at all or does it have to be cut? It looks slightly burned near the firewall but not melted.
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If you have an aftermarket radio, check if the radio has a fuse in the back of the unit..... Chances are that you blew the radio fuse on the radio itself. My Kenwood has a 10 Amp fuse in the back of the radio to protect it against these things from ruining the unit itself.
 
If the car still starts and runs it's not the fusible link. If it was shot nothing would work. If it's just the radio not working dustermaniac is probably right about a inline fuse being out.
 
If the radio is the only thing not working consider yourself lucky. To fix the fusible link correctly you may want to crimp and solder the connection and use shrink wrap tubing as necessary.
 
Thanks for the help everyone! I'll check the back of the radio tomorrow for a blown fuse. I do feel very lucky that more damage wasn't done.
 
LMAO i did that once. i jumped my car off. i had a bad battery and was to broke to get new one. well i crossed jumper cables and smoke came up. MY radio got fried it was a nice one too. i even replaced the fuse, IT STILL DIDNT WORK! well i learned a lesson lol
 
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