Jumped car wrong way

MISTIK22

MEMBER
2005 KIA SEDONA
0.6L
V6
2WD
AUTOMATIC
11,200 MILES

I had my battery replaced and the battery we tried to put it in. We installed it backwards and we put positive on negative vice versa and the lights went off, the horn went, off the wipers were going back and forth. Now the car isn’t working right like the power door locks don’t work, the radio won’t come on, the gear shift won’t move, the gauges in the front for the temperature and gas and odometer don’t move or come on. We got a new battery that works and changed the main fuse and main relay fuse but still same problem. The battery just dies when we turn it off after jumping it and it’s brand new!

1 Reply

KASEKENNY

MECHANIC
18,907 POSTS

Hi Mistik22

Unfortunately, when this happens there is no way to truly know what is affected each time this happens on different vehicles. It all depends on resistance on modules and fuses. Unfortunately, fuses are not the cause of the continued issues because what happens is the voltage is sent back through the ground circuit and the modules get back feed the voltage and if shorts out the driver circuits (12 volt circuits in the modules) and the only repair is to replace each effected module.

The only way that we can identify which are effected is to use a scan tool and see which have no communication codes in them or that you are not able to communicate with and then measure resistance in these circuits.

When this happens the result is very similar to when the car gets hit by lightening. Again, there is no way to know exactly what was effected. We need to have it inspected with a scan tool. It could just be one module or sensor or multiple.