Bill in the olden days of metal bumpers touching them creates ground continuity basically a ground to ground contact creating a ground connection, Then the pos cable is all that is needed to perform a jump. Did that once when needed, split the 6’ cables to get 12 feet clamp to clamp for pos, and front bumper to rear bumper to create ground continuity.
From a 1978 Rolls-Royce Enthusiasts’ Club service manual:
“…it has been found that cars wired positive earth [ground] tend to suffer from chassis and body corrosion more readily than those wired negative earth. The reason is perfectly simple, since metallic corrosion is an electrolytic process where the anode or positive electrode corrodes sacrificially to the cathode.”
Aha! good point.
^^^ I find this highly dubious. I’d have to see some test results.
(I know about real cathodic protection of pipelines, steel structures, etc.)
OP writes: Could it be true that I ruined it too all from a faltering dome light.
Yes, that’s entirely possible, but even if you did, most anything broken on your Elantra can be fixed.
OP writes: So my question to you and to all those who read, is there a fix for my knuckle-headed deed?
Car manufacturers anticipate this event will happen to their cars from time to time and usually design in safety features to limit the damage. First step, suggest to ask a shop with some expertise in auto-electrics to test all the fuses and fusible links. It’s not possible to anticipate everything that will need to be replaced, but you got to start somewhere, and that’s a good place .