Fried something...dead short of battery to frame.

[groelzj]

I drive a 95 Legacy LS, Manual transmission, pretty much stock.

The clamp to the positive post of the battery broke the other day and I stuck a vise-grip on there to make it to the parts store. I didn't latch the hood all the way to make sure it wouldn't hit the hood.

On the way back from the parts store, I hit a bump, the hood dipped, and smoke poured out from under the hood and the car died. I popped the hood immediately and stopped the smoke...but it was too late for one headlight at least, and I fried the alternator.

Having taken care of those two problems, I still have an intermittent cutout of the tachometer and occasional dimming of the instrument panel lights (when I turn on my headlights, for instance)

It's also been hard to start since then, but I don't have a CEL on. It's entirely possible that I fried that bulb too, but I wanted to check with you guys to see what else I should be checking.

Also, what kind of OBDII reader would you guys recommend? I'd prefer the cheapest one that will do the job.

I'm sure you'll want more information, and I'll be happy to provide it, but that should be enough info to get you started. (also, I have a spare ECU that I haven't installed yet...Dad thought it might help and made a call to his local junkyard. It was in the mail to me before I could tell him I didn't need it yet.)

I haven't driven the car more than a 1/4 mile from home yet, as I don't really want to be stranded in traffic without first being reasonably sure I've repaired whatever damage I caused.

Where should I start?

Thanks,
Jon

[log1call]

Check your earth wires...

[groelzj]

Earth to battery only, or are there other locations I should check as well?

Thanks for the help!
Jon

[log1call]

There will ba a heavy earth to the motor for starting and there are some other smaller wires that earth the ecu and electronics, you could have fed excessive current through any of them once/if the starter earth had overloaded. Look aound the inlet manifold I think there are some earth wires.

[groelzj]

Well, I didn't have much time to get to it last night, but I did find the smaller earth wire (from the battery to frame, not the one to the engine) was melted in two. I jumpered battery to frame and the car runs much better, though I had some trouble starting it when I shut it off after jumpering. Now I'm worried about all the little earth wires at various places throughout the car. I guess I'm gonna spend some quality time with the wiring diagram and trying to figure out where those wires correspond to in the actual engine.

Wish me luck! (and thanks a great deal for the help!)
Jon

If you think of anything else I should check into, please don't hesitate to post!

[gijonas]

Man that sucks lol.