2 days ago my mom left her headlights on, drained the battery. Somebody tried to jump her car, and crossed the lines, blew the wire leading to the alternator. I replaced that wire with a 10 gauge piece of copper wire from a local hardware store, it looked a little bit larger in diameter. I wasn't able to get the metal "contact ends" off of the old wire, so I just soldered the new wire in the middle, and figured it would be alright. Installed it, and it ran fine when I tested it, started up just like it should. Over time, it took longer to start up, and turned over slower and slower. There seems to be a lot of juice in the battery. I haven't jacked it up yet to see the wire completely, but from above it seems to look fine. Did I fry the starter? If so, where can I pick up the OEM piece of wire with the contact ends, and how much do starters go for? If you have any questions, my aim s/n is Kilomph86, i'd like to get this cleared up asap.





Thanks.





First post! [img]smileys/smiley1.gif[/img]Edited by: Kilomph

Called up the dealership and reserved the last "fusible link" wire. Local junk yard is closed on the weekend, which is when most people would want parts, makes SO MUCH SENSE! They have an online inventory search, and they have 3 starters for $43, so i'll pick one up on monday. Have any tips on installing one? And do you think something other than the starter could have been fried?

Reversing jumper cables would not necessarily fry the starter. It sounds like your splice might be bad or you fried a cell in the battery or fried the diodes in the alternator