Good Evening,
I am a complete idiot. Left the lights on and battery was drained. I went to jump the car, hooked up the leads backwards, tried to start the car, realized the leads were reversed and now the car is completely dead. I checked the fuses both inside and outside and they all appear to be good. Any idea what horrible things I might've done to the car? I should probably mention, it is a 2009 Fit
Thank you for any help.

Arty

 

Arty- Start by checking under the hood near the battery. There's a 100 amp battery terminal fuse box there according to the factory shop manual. Make sure that the fuse or circuit breaker is not blown. Depending on how long the battery cables were reversed, you could have also possibly damaged the battery

In an effort to keep costs down, you can remove the battery yourself and take it to an auto parts store and have the battery checked. It'll have to be recharged before it can be accurately checked. You can then call your local Honda dealership and talk to service. Run the scenario past them as to what happened and ask them in their experience what is normally affected when battery cables are reversed? Ask them if the battery fuse/circuit breaker can be removed by you and tested at their dealership? They're going to try and get you to have the car towed to them for repair but you can sometimes get enough answers to your questions to figure what needs to be replaced without having to pay the big bucks to have them fix it.

 

Dont feel too bad. I recently arked the positive and negative when reinstalling a starter. Older chevy. Feels good. No damage or blown fuses, checked em all then stripped the wrapping off the wire harnesses. Nothin melted, but the heat did singe said rapping turning it a golden brown like fresh biscuits. I did decide to replace the battery without testing anything further, and shes back to life. I mean, if you damaged anything key i'd imagine youd throw a code for the check engine, you know, when you got a charged battery in there.. Check it with a multimeter, if the voltage is below i dunno, 11, considering charging it. Trust your gut!

 

56ChevyDan - Thank you so much for the information. You were right, the 100Amp fuse had blown. I believe I was very fortunate in that the fuse did its job by self destructing before any other damage was done. I purchased a new fuse assembly (proprietary Honda part) and installed a new battery. Everything seems to be running fine now.
Pyts- Thank you for your story. I feel in good company now

Have a Happy Holiday,
Arty

 

Nice to hear. Good job diagnosing '55 Chevy.

Was the fuse assembly expensive?

 

Good Morning Black3sr,
The fuse assembly cost near enough to eighty dollars as to make no difference.
Have a great day,
Arty

 

So not too bad over all. Merry Xmas eh

bill