So I let a young man use my car battery to test his fuel pump and he put the battery back in backwards... Fried the alternator, I went to the junkyard pulled one out of an Aveo with the same 2.2 ecotec motor. Lo and behold it was identical in every aspect but the regulator plug was different.. smh... Damn you Chevy. Lol... Went back to the junkyard and was able to exchange for one out of an HHR with no receipt they just let me swap but no warranty... Got it in, jumped it correctly but the battery light as well as power steering msg came on immediately and would not run after disconnecting the jumper cables... The alternator I put in has yet to be tested as I believe many cars don't end up at a salvage due to an alternator not working.... Currently my battery Is being charged and tested at AZ... What should I do if anything prior to me starting this thing when I get the battery back... I'm going through a divorce and am between jobs at the moment so to say my budget is limited would be an understatement... Just wanted to get some advice from guys who may have had similar scenarios... Thank you for your help
Shawn Farmer

 

Hi Shawn, to the forums! You'll just have to wait for the test results for your battery, it might be toast also

 

I just wanted to make sure there wasn't any weird fuses that must be replaced prior to replacing the battery and restarting.

 

How in the hey do you get the terminal sdrawkcab when they’re different sizes???

 

First thing I would do is check fuse #1 (EPS) in the underhood fuse box and the connections to the fuse box. Most people capable of installing a battery backwards are capable of improper jump starts.
Check the maxi-fuse next to the battery.

 

Last time a member hooked up the battery backwards, that fried the battery also.

 

So I know it's been a minute since my first original post. We got some snow down here and I didn't feel like laying down outside in the crap to work on anything. But since our last post I have checked the maxi fuse and the EPS fuse number one those are both good. I've replaced the battery with brand new duralast Gold jobber. I bought my third alternator for the dang thing off of a marketplace post for 20 bucks. I put it on and it's showing me I got a bad battery again went to Napa had the alternator tested in the car. It's test bad because while the car is running it only has 11.4 volts. I had the one that I took off tested on the bench and they couldn't tell me that it was bad... But my battery light was on in the car the whole time and it was draining my battery. I checked all the possible ground wires I can find cleaned up several of them. I checked all the wiring in the back of the car looking for any possible chafing or spots where it could be hidden metal working out or whatever taped up a few areas but I never saw anything. I am noticing when the battery is hooked up I have some like it almost sounds and it's going to sound weird but like little gremlins inside there running around like there's power going to something but I don't know what it is I can't find it and I don't think it's too far off in the beating truth that it's f****** little gremlins. I'm sorry if I sound like a little b**** but God man I have no I have absolutely no money like I'm going through a divorce all the tools I have in my shop that I can't have access to because my wife put a fictitious protective order on me. I need a job so bad it's not even funny but without the car running there's no point of having a job cuz I can't get back and forth from it. Any ideas? I'm thinking it's time for a bullet and a gun.

 

You might test the big cable between the alternator and the starter. It seems to have a fusible link in it, so you could measure the resistance.

 

Did they tell you it was good? What is the output of this alternator?
Not the best place to rant.

 

I agree with the person who said to check the wire between the starter and alternator. My 2007 is wired from factory as follows. Power wire from battery to starter, short wire with fusible link between starter and alternator. Will not charge if that wire is bad. Note that wire does not always look bad. Mine didn’t but it was still burned out.