1996 Dodge Ram - I think I nuked the battery?

Asked by 1996DodgeRamPlow Nov 12, 2017 at 01:04 PM about the 1996 Dodge RAM 1500

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

Hey folks - I have a 96 Dodge Ram that I use exclusively for plowing my own
driveway, and the rest of the year it sits in the driveway. As it's getting cold, I
went to make sure it was ready for the season, and as often the case, the
battery was dead (starter clicked / interior lights came on but wouldn't start). I
went to jump it, and when I was making all the connections stupidly
connected the negative black cable back to the batter, not the frame. When I
went to start it again, there was a small spark at the battery, and then after
that none of the interior lights / starter / anything worked, turning the key was
just silent.

I looked through the interior fuse box and saw the windshield wiper fuse was
blown (think that's been out for a while, those stopped working last year...)
but couldn't see any other fuses out, any sense for what else I should check?
Hopefully I didn't do something really dumb...

Thanks!

2 Answers

If you did not reverse polarity there should be no damage. There is nothing wrong with connecting jumper cables to the battery ground.

159,085

If you reversed polarity while jump starting and one of the vehicle's (the vehicle that you are trying to start) battery cable lost connection to the battery then you've reversed the voltage directly to the electrical system and possibly done some damage. Check all of the fuses first and proceed from there.

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