Toyota MR2 Message Board - View Single Post - I know I'm brand new, but this is urgent concern!

kewandnout · 07-30-2009, 10:50 PM

I just bought an 85 Mr2 and the battery happened to be dead the second time I tried to drive the car. So I went to Walmart and bought a replacement.

Just to let everyone here know, this is the first time I have ever tried to install a battery.

So I replaced the one in the car with the new one. I connected the wire with the red plastic boot/hood to the positive battery terminal. Then I attached the black boot/hood wire to the negative terminal.

I had to force one side on as it didn't quite fit on the terminal. That's when sparks started coming off the terminals. Then it really started smoking. I was really freaking out so I thought to myself, maybe these wires are strangely mislabeled.

Turns out that WAS the case, the RED boot was on the NEGATIVE wire and BLACK on POSITIVE!! Now how or why someone would switch the two is totally beyond me! I looked to see where the wires attached to on the car just to confirm that the red was in fact the NEGATIVE and the black was in fact the POSITIVE. The black wire sure enough was going to the engine and the red was going to the body of the car. Very very strange.

So I returned the battery to Walmart, got a new battery and installed it. Still no electric power to the car. So I went out to Pep Boys and bought completely new fuses and replaced all but one which I couldn't pull out of the fuse box in the engine bay. STILL no power. So I'm confounded right now, I don't know what more I need to replace to get this car back and running again.

Should I buy a new alternator? If not, what do you think would do the trick to fix this mess?

What should I do now? Please help me out here !

07-30-2009, 10:50 PM	#1 (permalink)
kewandnout No Skills Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 3 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts iTrader Rating: (0/0% )	I know I'm brand new, but this is urgent concern! I just bought an 85 Mr2 and the battery happened to be dead the second time I tried to drive the car. So I went to Walmart and bought a replacement. Just to let everyone here know, this is the first time I have ever tried to install a battery. So I replaced the one in the car with the new one. I connected the wire with the red plastic boot/hood to the positive battery terminal. Then I attached the black boot/hood wire to the negative terminal. I had to force one side on as it didn't quite fit on the terminal. That's when sparks started coming off the terminals. Then it really started smoking. I was really freaking out so I thought to myself, maybe these wires are strangely mislabeled. Turns out that WAS the case, the RED boot was on the NEGATIVE wire and BLACK on POSITIVE!! Now how or why someone would switch the two is totally beyond me! I looked to see where the wires attached to on the car just to confirm that the red was in fact the NEGATIVE and the black was in fact the POSITIVE. The black wire sure enough was going to the engine and the red was going to the body of the car. Very very strange. So I returned the battery to Walmart, got a new battery and installed it. Still no electric power to the car. So I went out to Pep Boys and bought completely new fuses and replaced all but one which I couldn't pull out of the fuse box in the engine bay. STILL no power. So I'm confounded right now, I don't know what more I need to replace to get this car back and running again. Should I buy a new alternator? If not, what do you think would do the trick to fix this mess? What should I do now? Please help me out here !