So, a week ago while driving home from work my headlights dimmed, the power steering gave out, and the battery light was on. First thought that came to mind was the battery and alternator. My battery was old so I replaced it, but turns out the alternator was also busted (at least that’s what auto zone told me). Bought a new alternator and installed it. The issue is I’m an idiot and forgot to disconnect the batttery when I came back to tighten some things up and the wire with the nut on it touched some metal and sparked. Now the car starts and the battery light is off. But every other light is on, the radio is off, ac off, wipers and blinkers don’t work, and it won’t shift into gear. I checked most of he fuses and none of them are blown. Any ideas on what it could be? (Yes I know I’m an idiot for not disconnecting the battery)
Fuse # 6 in the engine compartment fuse box is the alternator fuse. It is not the type of fuse that you can pull out and examine, it is part of a grid. Inspect fuses 1 through 10 with a flash light for breaks.
Another idea, maybe the electrical glitch has confused the computers, put them in some undefined state. Suggest to disconnect the battery and let it sit overnight that way. When you re-connect the battery in the AM, all the computers will reset.
I checked them and didn’t see any breaks with them
I will give this a try
I believe there are two ignition circuits in this vehicle, and I believe you may have blown the fuse to one of them (could also be the accessory circuit). I pull one fuse as a time, examine it IN GOOD LIGHT, and if it’s fine, put it back. I had a similar situation with my 2006. Good luck. Let us know what it ends up being please.
Edit: check the under dash fuse box… yeah it’s a pain.
You definitely blew out one of the main fuses in the panel under the hood. The main alternator output wire is always HOT to the battery, as you found out, the hard way. The fuse saved you from further damage to the wiring.
When you say the main fuse, what are you referring to? I’ve never messed with the electrical systems on my car
Do these cars use a fusible link anymore? That might be one explanation for why all the typical fuses look good and there is no power…
It does from what i’ve read. But I don’t know the electrical systems, so i’m not sure what that is. If I could take it to a garage to have them look at it I would.
The main fuses are # 1 through 10 in the engine compartment fuse box, # 6 is for the alternator, 120 amp.
With the engine off do you have 12 volts at the alternator output stud?
They all seem fine when I look at them. Don’t see any blown fuses
A blown fuse between the alternator and battery theory isn’t consistent with the OP’s first-post-of-the-thread symptoms.
Get yourself at least a test light probe from a parts store. They are not expensive to purchase. With the engine OFF, place the clip lead on a good metal ground point or the negative post of the battery. Place the tip of the probe on the main output post of the alternator and see if the light turns on. If it does not light then you need to find the blown fuse in the panel or the bad fusible link if there is one.
Have you pulled and checked fuse 19 (red, 10 amp) in the interior fuse box?