Help me get my car started!

[terrible one]

Luckily this happened at the shop where I had other means of transportation and not somewhere else . . .

So here's my funny story.

I was in the Dart and went down to the shop to take the tachometer that is in there out and put a smaller one in. This is an aftermarket tach that was just mounted on the dash. Anyways, I disconnected it completely, then unmounted it. I have the wires running through a hole in the gauge cluster where some knob used to be . . . maybe choke? Either way, as I was pulling them through, I saw sparks, the alternator gauge moved (not sure if it pegged or not), and I smelt the good burnt electric component smell that some of us know. After that, nothing with the turn of the key. Absolutely silent. Keep in mind the car was off when I did this. Obviously one of the bare tach wires touched something or grounded out something or some kind of shit back there, but I am CLUELESS when it comes to automotive electronics. Can anyone point me in the right direction here as to what to do, what to test, what to replace, etc.?

-J

[acelondon]

That's why you pull ur Battery Negative when doing electrical work.
<same way i learned it!>


1.Check your fuses.
2.Check the wires on your ignition. Most likely the Tach power was hooked to the ACC line, and that blew. 
3.Get out your MultiMeter and check to see if there is power anywhere. Check every terminal on the fuse box with your negative on any dash ground. (black wires, bolted to metal usually.)

Good luck!

[Fast_68_440]

2.Check the wires on your ignition. Most likely the Tach power was hooked to the ACC line, and that blew. 
3.Get out your MultiMeter and check to see if there is power anywhere. Check every terminal on the fuse box with your negative on any dash ground. (black wires, bolted to metal usually.)

When you say the ACC line blew what do you mean by this?  Are you refeering to the fuse for the ACC line or is it possible that something happened to the wire itself?  I accidently attached the positive cable to the negative terminal and the neg to the positive terminal on the battery and haven't had any power since. 

[acelondon]

Always start by checking the fuses. They are designed and intended to prevent wire failure.

Sometimes they don't help. When i got my Charger (im the 3rd owner) somebody had bypassed the fuse box on 4 circuits. No real reason that i can find, the fuse box is not damaged( the usual reason to bypass it, by the way: NEVER BYPASS A FUSE its there for a reason)
My guess was the guy had modifications that required to much power.
I found out about this when i accidentally shorted my cigarette lighter outlet, and my stereo burst into flames.  hell of a day that was. 

If somebody bypassed the fuses, then a short would cause the wire to fail at the weakest point, which is usually the hardest to fix or most most likely to cause a fire. Liberally apply Murphy's law here.


Switching you pos and neg could eat a voltage regulator, possibly a starter(not sure) and will kill most radios quickly. Lights don't care at all, except for LED's, which usually catch fire.

Some circuits include Diodes that allow current to flow only one way, so when you hook up a battery the wrong way, some are not hurt, because the Diode takes the abuse and lets the current flow past the circuit, and back to the battery.

Check the voltage on your battery, it may have been damaged, not the car. 9-12, just charge it, anything above 12, start looking for blown fuses, replace voltage regulator, and check for blown wires after that. Below 9, take it to Advance and have them charger and check it, it may be dead forever.

[Fast_68_440]

Is there any way to check the voltage regulator?  The starter is good, the battery is good, the radio is blown, the starter relay is brand new.  I plan on getting to the fuses this weekend but just incase thats not the problem is there a way to check that voltage regulator?

[acelondon]

the only way i know requires that the engine is spinning at idle, and the output of the regulator is between 12.5 and 14.4