This one would be funny if it wasn't so imperative to get my son's car running so he can work Monday. I learned that someone connected battery cables backwards to jump him a week ago and there was a fried ground wire near the battery (all of the insulation was burned off so it's a wonder he didn't have a fire to deal with). When I say the alternator is new, it's about a year old, but the car has been sitting for almost all of that time. I will run a test on alternator output and also check battery voltage. I'm still stumped about the dash light that is for the battery staying lit with the ignition off. I thought it might be that the wire for that light was connected to a hot lead on the ignition switch rather than an accessory lead, but my son said he checked that already (I'll check it again in the morning). To answer someone's question, there is no battery holddown bracket and no alarm system. No indication of an under-hood light staying on and with the battery disconnected, this couldn't be happening anyway as far as I know. The battery cable inspection is a good point and I'll check that out as well. Something is drawing down the battery somehow. If I had to guess, I'd say it almost has to be in the charging system. I'll keep you all posted. If anyone can think of something that could have caused this as a result of jumping the battery with the cables attached wrong, please let me know. My son says last time he drove it, he wasn't having these problems, so it would seem there could be a relationship between the jump start and this problem. Could it have done damage to the coil or reverse polarized the alternator and would something like that display symptoms like what we are dealing with? Thanks folks.
