electrical: STUPID mistake, car wont start after jump

[AlphaAssault]

My car battery dies while I was working on it, I think I left the trunk open. Anyways, my bro and I get out there and jump it, it starts up fine, no problems there. When we unhooked the jumper cable negative from the frame of my car though, my car dies. Damn, didnt let it charge enough. So I put the cable back on the frame, and go to start the car again. I get in and notice the interior lights arent on even though the batteries are connected properly. I try to start the car and I get nothing. Its lights out for my GSX. When we connected the batteries the second time, they key of my GSX was still in the ignition and in the on position, I never messed with it after the car died. <---Dumbass move. Anyways, what happened? We jumped it once, and now nothing electrical, NOTHING, works, even while hooked up to another cars battery. Did I burn something out??? If so what?

 

[Splitpi]

Put a multi meter on the battery.

Start the car with the jumpers, measure the voltage using the multi-meter.

Disconnect the jumpers (if car runs, either the alternator is working and and the battery is dead, or the battery got some juice and is running without alternator.) Measure the voltage. If it reads greater than 12 volts the altenator is fine and you are running the car purely from the altenator. If the voltage is ~ 14 volts after some time running then battery is taking some charge and alternator is fine.

My money is on the battery being dead and discharging on its own. Car batteries are not meant to be fully discharged.

 

[GORBS88]

Regardless if the battery is bad or dead it won't matter. If you unhook the jumpers and the car dies then the ALT is NOT charging, as someone stated earlier in the post you can start the car then take the battery right out of the car and it will still run from the ALT.

Now that you have a good battery in there unhook the NEG battery terminal while the car is running and if it stalls then the ALT is bad.

 

[Boomer420s]

Well, I thought I had solved the problem, but I guess not. Heres what we did:

A few nights ago my bro and I get out there to jump the GSX again. this time, I connect the ground to the dead batter of the GSX instead of to the frame. Hey! it works. So I start my car up and let ir tun for about 10 minutes *while it is connected to the other vehicle.* I shut my car off and unplug the cables. At this point, all the interior lights and stuff are working fine, even with the cables unplugged. Cool, problem solved. Well I go out there just now to move the GSX, and wouldntcha know it, everything electrical is dead again. SO, that was kinda irritating. Everything electrical was working fine before I drained the battery the first time. Whats the deal now? I like to think the battery has had it - I dont know when it was put in because I bought the car with this battery - because that would be an easy fix, but are there any other things this could be other than the battery. I cant find any blown fuses or anything of the sort, and the car runs fine when its hooked up to another vehicle.

According to the information stated. Your battery is dead, and your alternator is not producing enough voltage to recharge the battery. It only takes a small amount of voltage to supply power to the dome light. Compared to the 3/4 of the batteries power to operate the starter motor.
Your alternator supplies power to ALL electrical componets in a vehicle while the engine is running. When not running, the battery supplies the power. If the car dies after you take the jumper cables off, than your alternator is not supplying the voltage needed for the PCM to keep your engine running. If everything is working while you have the jumper cables hooked up, it is not your car doing the work. It is the "booster" car. If your dome light is on for a few minutes after you disconnect the cables, your battery might have a little juice in it. Will quickly be discharged. Remove battery and alternator, go to auto parts store, drop broken parts on counter, say, "I need new ones of these." Problem solved. If you still have issues after that. You are going to go "parasitic draw" hunting. Have a nice day.

 

[crimsondragon]

If your alternator is dead or not holding a charge, a battery light will light up in your gauge cluster indicating the car is now running on batteries. That's your first sign of a fried alternator. The PROPER way to jump a battery is to put the ignition into OFF. Turn off all the electrical loads. Make sure the transmission is either in neutral or park depending on the type. Connect the positive clamps which are RED to each positive terminal on the battery. Connect the ground clamp which is BLACK to the jumper car's ground terminal. Connect the ground leading to the car being jumped to a ground such as bolt or bracket. I used to use the engine bracket till I took it off. It's a pretty good ground. Sticks out like a sore thumb and easy to clamp to. Start the jumper car. Let it run for a bit then start the car being jumped. Disconnect the cables in REVERSE order. Meaning disconnect the ground from the car, then the ground from the jumper car, then the positives. Take the jumped car for a hard ride to charge the battery fully.