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'88 Civic blown battery fuse
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Beigemage
Novice
Feb 21, 2021, 8:55 AM
Post #1 of 6
(1865 views)
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'88 Civic blown battery fuse
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Dear mechanics,
I've got a 1988 Honda Civic Wagovan with 181k miles, 1500 CCs. It quit starting, so at the suggestion of a former mechanic acquaintance who lives far away, I took the battery out of the car and charged it from 12.7v up to 13.1. (Backstory: A week prior to charging, the car began taking longer to start, and sounding "wrong" at startup. That's when I took it to AutoZone and their testing device revealed that battery, alternator, and starter all tested good. The former mechanic acquaintance didn't trust the results, and believed this sounded like a battery issue. There's further backstory, but that might be fit for another post, later.)
For the entire time I've owned this car, the black battery cable has been hooked up to the positive battery terminal, and the red cable, to the negative terminal. I've always had to warn people that they are backwards, if anyone tested the battery. SO, since I had the battery out, I decided to rotate the battery 180°, and reinstall it such that the black cable would now reach the negative battery terminal, and red would reach positive terminal. I hooked red cable to positive terminal first, and while I was hooking that up, I didn't see the black cable slowly inching its way back toward the battery terminal (with what I'll call "muscle memory"). While I was fumbling with securing the red cable's cylinder around the + battery terminal, I saw sparks come from the negative terminal, which is when I noticed the black cable had touched it. No dash lights, and the fuse was blown.
Was it a bad idea to "correct" my battery cables such that red now goes to positive battery terminal, and black goes to negative? Was their backwards hookup the only thing preventing the battery fuse from blowing? Or what else could be causing this fuse to blow? (I've checked wires attached to the alternator, and blew a second fuse.)
Thanks for reading, and thanks for any pro tips!
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Beigemage
Novice
Feb 21, 2021, 9:36 AM
Post #3 of 6
(1835 views)
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Re: '88 Civic blown battery fuse
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Thanks for your quick response.
To clarify, the cable I must trace is the (apparently positive) black cable that sparked at the negative battery terminal?
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Tom Greenleaf
Ultimate Carjunky
/ Moderator
Feb 21, 2021, 9:55 AM
Post #4 of 6
(1825 views)
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Re: '88 Civic blown battery fuse
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Just FYI, A maybe '88 was color coded but chances those are OE now are unlikely.
For some time around me if you needed new cables you just had to splice in ends.
That now outdated color or lager (top post batts) remains true for the battery not always the new cable ends. Color. I stock stuff I think it's all black cable so if leaving my hands mark batts (they are anyway) say "+" symbol or "POS" can be out of sight but not when unattached.
It's still way too new to reverse polarity on without some consequence as Hammer said or wild luck just touched so quickly it reacted and you stopped in a Nano second?
T
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Tom Greenleaf
Ultimate Carjunky
/ Moderator
Feb 21, 2021, 11:07 AM
Post #6 of 6
(1812 views)
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Re: '88 Civic blown battery fuse
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Parts for fixes of cable ends: Autozoo has quite a bit. Some Walmarts have real brass ends. I have the "reamer" to make taper of U-bolts match taper of battery and shims out of real lead ones - bummer.
Solder and plain cheap solering iron for some thing others self squish quite well I like to strip back to good wire solder the strands and squish the soldered strands.
If you spray or keep cable ends greased and clean this never happens but easy to forget many cars/trucks use bands of zinc plated metal not a substantial u-bolt and special bolt and nut if correct only need one wrench.
Mandatory these things are good at battery and other ends. Negative should also go to body metal either right away or from block of the engine look for those going just metal to metal keep those in shape.
Just wanted you to know where you can get some items (exactly where you are matters) it's lockdown where am those mentioned are open,
Tom
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