Dtaylor83

OK, I'm not dumb. I am very mechanically inclined. It was very dark and in a hurry. My brother said hey thats not right, turn it around. I was not thinking and listened. I hooked negative to positve and vice versa. Now my check engine light, battery light and check charging system light is on. Also my brand new alternator is not charging battery. Battery is charged, alternator is new, fuses are not blown. I don't have money for a mechanic, must do myself. Any information would be great. Thanks

843de

Well let's put it this way, go buy another alternator and hand your brother the bill, its dead.

Hooking up the cables backwards blew the diodes in the alternator rendering it to be nothing more than a paperweight.

Once you have replaced the alternator, check all the fuses again, both in the under-hood and under-dash fuse boxes, testing them for continuity with a volt/ohm meter is better than visually checking them if you have a meter handy.

Obviously, you'll need to unhook the battery's negative cable while you do the work, once you have the alternator in and the fuses checked, fire it up.

If you're really fortunate, all the damage will be confined to the alternator, if you still have a CEL then you need to dig deeper and assume that damage occurred to one or more of the computer modules.

If you do have a CEL illuminated, have the codes pulled and post them so we can give you some feedback on what else might be damaged.

Let us know how you make out, and welcome to the forum.

firemangeorge

X2 what Mike said above.

If it didn't go "Boom" when you did that, then you probably didn't hear the "sizzle,sizzle " sound of all the electronics getting fried.
Unfortunate mistake. Hopefully the damage will be minimal.

Hmmm. Wonder if it blew the main line fuse back by the battery? But, then again, I don't think it will start with that fuse blown.

843de

Yeah, my first thought was "did the 'oh bleep' fuse back by the battery blow?", but it sounds like it didn't, and I'm not sure if a cable reversal would take it out anyway.

If the OP's luck held out, the diodes in the alternator let go before anything else took a hit, but he'll/we'll only know when the alternator is replaced.

whopper

You might be able to save some major $'s by taking current alternator (no pun intended) to an Auto electric shop where they can likely rebuild your alternator.

Oldblue

have the alternator bench tested to confirm the diodes are toast, just in case Lady Luck was in a good mood when the wires where reversed

walkowg

ok this happens a lot on hhr do to hook up wrong can someone tell me the right way to jump start a hhr. I do not have a manual to look at and dont need to try to do it in tne dark wrong when it is needed. thanks ahead of time.

Dtaylor83

ok guys the alternator is replaced. I am going to buy the tester. But the fuse back by battery is good still. Now the dash says "check charging system" and the battery light on dash is on, also the check engine light. Basically the battery alone runs the car till it runs all the juice out....So that's what is happening. Its running strictly off battery juice. Alternator is brand new, put in after "accident". OH and my brother did buy the new alternator..LOL

Dtaylor83

and I did have the auto place put the code tester on it. Only one that came up was a fan code. That fuse and radio fuse blew, those are replaced. So that's where I stand....

whopper

If you mean where it destroys the alternator, no, it does not happen a lot.

You don't have a manual? Go look under the STICKIES at the top of the General section and download the appropriate manual depending on the year of your HHR. Or go directly to GM and download it from there.