blown alternator while trying to jump start?

[Pyromidion]

Hello there,

Yesterday at work, I had a woman request a jump start for her car. (the lights were left on, but isn't it true that newer cars automatically shut the lights off if the car is off??) I called on the maintenance / security pickup to come around with the jumper cables, and we hooked it up and got nothing.

A 2nd try (with the +/- cables switched!) made the wipers and horn go off, but still no start. (I saw the guy put the + cable on the - battery terminal and asked "are you sure thats right?", he said "yea, yea")

a 3rd try resulted in the car starting, and she pumped the revvs between 3-5k for a minute or so, but the moment we took the cables off the battery, it sputtered and stalled out.

a 4th try (started up) I noticed that the battery icon on her dash was lit, and mentioned that it may be the alternator not charging the battery, but she said that the car was too new, and that couldn't be the problem. AAA was called, and indeed it was the alternator (returning 0v) at fault.

so the question is, was there something in the jump-start (perhaps switching the cables!?) that could blow the alternator, or was the poor thing on its way out to begin with?

-John

 

[LTC8K6]

Cars don't necessarily shut the headlights off automatically. Many cars don't have the auto headlights at all, and if they do, you usually have to turn it to auto.

They all beep and chime like crazy if you leave them on, though. 😀

Yes, hooking the cables up backwards probably did all sorts of damage to all sorts of things.

 

[Baked]

There are somethings better off left to the professionals. I've jumped started many coed's dead cars back in college and have never ran into a blown alternator. OP = man fail.

 

[DivideBYZero]

The light is probably still on because the battery is still woefully under voltage.

 

[jtvang125]

What? switching + and - around? LOL.

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: Baked
There are somethings better off left to the professionals. I've jumped started many coed's dead cars back in college and have never ran into a blown alternator. OP = man fail.

I don't think cars are jumpable as easily as they used to be. After my experience with my MPV and a guy at work's M3, there is just something off about the whole thing.

 

[EightySix Four]

Originally posted by: Skoorb

Originally posted by: Baked
There are somethings better off left to the professionals. I've jumped started many coed's dead cars back in college and have never ran into a blown alternator. OP = man fail.

I don't think cars are jumpable as easily as they used to be. After my experience with my MPV and a guy at work's M3, there is just something off about the whole thing.

This.

Some cars do not like to be jump started at all, especially some with the newer PCM's, if it doesn't get quite enough voltage at start, it isn't going to happen.

 

[LTC8K6]

What? switching + and - around? LOL.

Yeah, do that until it starts... 😀

 

[lsd]

Yes its possible the alternator diode pack was burnt if indeed the polarity was switched. But I would imagine a whole slew of other fuses/ fusible links would be burnt.

 

[Savij]

Originally posted by: Pyromidion
Hello there,

Yesterday at work, I had a woman request a jump start for her car. (the lights were left on, but isn't it true that newer cars automatically shut the lights off if the car is off??) I called on the maintenance / security pickup to come around with the jumper cables, and we hooked it up and got nothing.

A 2nd try (with the +/- cables switched!) made the wipers and horn go off, but still no start. (I saw the guy put the + cable on the - battery terminal and asked "are you sure thats right?", he said "yea, yea")

a 3rd try resulted in the car starting, and she pumped the revvs between 3-5k for a minute or so, but the moment we took the cables off the battery, it sputtered and stalled out.

a 4th try (started up) I noticed that the battery icon on her dash was lit, and mentioned that it may be the alternator not charging the battery, but she said that the car was too new, and that couldn't be the problem. AAA was called, and indeed it was the alternator (returning 0v) at fault.

so the question is, was there something in the jump-start (perhaps switching the cables!?) that could blow the alternator, or was the poor thing on its way out to begin with?

-John

Everyone involved should turn in their man cards! I know jack shit about cars and I know better than that.

 

[nakedfrog]

The negative cable isn't even supposed to be hooked to the battery at all. It's supposed to be attached to an unpainted piece of metal somewhere in the engine bay. Yes, switching them is not good.

 

[PlasmaBomb]

Were the cables smoking?