So my wife has a 2009 G6 GT, and two mornings ago, it didn't start the first try. The second try it started, but the clock was 12:00, and it clearly had some sort of battery issue. The negative terminal was corroded badly, and it did the same thing when she was at work. It was the original battery, so it had lasted close to 6 years(she bought it used), so I figured the battery was bad.
I had her just drive straight home, and left the car there, while I went and bought a new battery from Batteries Plus, and took it back home to install it. While installing it, I didn't think to check the terminals to verify the positive/negatives were in the same position as the old battery, which in this case they were reversed(which is dumb if you ask me). So when I hooked it up, I had accidently connected the positive clamp to the negative pole, and negative clamp to the positive pole. The car honked violently, and made what seemed like a revving noise, before I yanked the negative clamp off again and realized what had happened.
Switched them to the correct way, which was difficult because the wires had to be stretched tightly to sit in that position, and the car started up normally, except the radio would not power on. Checked the fuse, and an 10A fuse had blown, no big deal, replaced it and radio is back in business.
Per Batteries+'s advice, brought it back to them to have them test it and make sure the new battery wasn't getting drained, and the alternator wasn't bad. Sure enough, the NEW battery was draining, and the worker confirmed that the alternator must be the culprit after all. Not happy at this point, but it is what it is, a 6 year old battery needs to be replaced anyway.
So today, I pull the alternator off, and bring it to Autozone to get a replacement, bring the remanufactured one back home, hook everything back up(which was incredibly easy I must say, being my first time working with an alternator), and the car started right up.
Just in case, I drove it around for ~15 minutes, and brought it to the same Batteries+ to have the verify the battery wasn't still draining. Of course, with my luck, the NEW battery is still draining, even with the replacement alternator.
I just got off the phone with Autozone, and they're testing the alternator core I left with them, and I will be calling back in about 45 minutes to see how it went.
Assuming they tell me the core alternator was good, where do I go from here? Did I fry something electrical when I reversed the negative/positive? There are no blown fuses. ANY help is greatly appreciated, if there's any more information you need, let me know.
EDIT: So I talked to AutoZone, and the original alternator is good still, so its not an alternator issue. I'm deathly afraid of starting to replace wiring harnesses without knowing where the issue is, any help is greatly appreciated.
I had her just drive straight home, and left the car there, while I went and bought a new battery from Batteries Plus, and took it back home to install it. While installing it, I didn't think to check the terminals to verify the positive/negatives were in the same position as the old battery, which in this case they were reversed(which is dumb if you ask me). So when I hooked it up, I had accidently connected the positive clamp to the negative pole, and negative clamp to the positive pole. The car honked violently, and made what seemed like a revving noise, before I yanked the negative clamp off again and realized what had happened.
Switched them to the correct way, which was difficult because the wires had to be stretched tightly to sit in that position, and the car started up normally, except the radio would not power on. Checked the fuse, and an 10A fuse had blown, no big deal, replaced it and radio is back in business.
Per Batteries+'s advice, brought it back to them to have them test it and make sure the new battery wasn't getting drained, and the alternator wasn't bad. Sure enough, the NEW battery was draining, and the worker confirmed that the alternator must be the culprit after all. Not happy at this point, but it is what it is, a 6 year old battery needs to be replaced anyway.
So today, I pull the alternator off, and bring it to Autozone to get a replacement, bring the remanufactured one back home, hook everything back up(which was incredibly easy I must say, being my first time working with an alternator), and the car started right up.
Just in case, I drove it around for ~15 minutes, and brought it to the same Batteries+ to have the verify the battery wasn't still draining. Of course, with my luck, the NEW battery is still draining, even with the replacement alternator.
I just got off the phone with Autozone, and they're testing the alternator core I left with them, and I will be calling back in about 45 minutes to see how it went.
Assuming they tell me the core alternator was good, where do I go from here? Did I fry something electrical when I reversed the negative/positive? There are no blown fuses. ANY help is greatly appreciated, if there's any more information you need, let me know.
EDIT: So I talked to AutoZone, and the original alternator is good still, so its not an alternator issue. I'm deathly afraid of starting to replace wiring harnesses without knowing where the issue is, any help is greatly appreciated.
