ok here go's, my battery was dead from sitting in my 67 firebird, so i tried jumping it with my jeep and it still wouldn't start. i tried a battery jump booster and still wouldn't start. so my genius brain decided to hook up the jumper cables AND the booster box. It cranked over but not fast enough to start. After cussing i got out and saw smoke coming from the battery area, ran up and unhooked the jumper and cables. it melted the battery cable connector,but didn't see any other damage. i bought a new battery connector and put it on, got a new battery from NAPA under warranty, and now it does nothing. no lights on inside, no cranking, completely dead. did i fry a resistor in the cable or something? HELP!!!
update, here's what i checked so far. i have 12.7 volts from the main cable to the starter, but no voltage from either of the small studs on the starter, i also checked the red wire from the alternator to the voltage regulator and had no voltage. hope this helps, thanks
Did you replace the positive or negative battery connector? The positive terminal should have the large wire going to the starter (sounds like it does since you measured voltage at the starter) AND there should be a smaller wire from the positive terminal to a junction block on the radiator support near the battery. This smaller wire feeds the entire electrical system, except for the starter motor. Verify you have 12 volts at the junction block. If you have voltage there, check for voltage at the horn relay and voltage regulator on the driver's side of the radiator support. You won't find voltage at all the terminals, but should have it as some of them. (At the moment, I'm not remembering exactly which terminals should have voltage.)
thanks Pete, it was the smaller wire not hooked up. apparently when i melted the old connected it fell down and then i ended up sitting the new battery right on the wire and hiding it. that fixed it for me. thanks again
