dj haf

my neighbor was helping me jump start my 67 camaro and accidently put the positive part of the jumper cables on the negative part of the battery, and the negative part of the cables on the positive part of the battery. now none of the lights work, and there seems to be no electricitiy running to the car. there's no power going to the coil, and it doesnt turn on. it'll sound like it's going to turn on, but the engine doesnt turn over or anything... ill try to see if i can get a sound clip of how it sounds today. anyway, is there anything i can do to help my situation? how can i start the damn car? =\ thanks guys

jg95z28

You killed it!

It's possible that the starter solenoid and/or voltage regulator were fried in the process. I'd start by checking (replacing) those and see it that fixes the problem.

dj haf

i also wanted to ask another question... you know the cables that go to the battery? i always thought the negative cable went to the engine block... but i noticed that, instead, the positive cable bolts right to the block... the negative goes under the block and goes somewhere but i cant see where it goes because it was wet outside and i didnt want to jack up the car. i wanna get this bitch running already... she's such a beast, 350 with a lot of work... does no good sitting infront of my house collecting dust thanks for any help i get

Damon

The postive battery cable ALWAYS goes to the big terminal on the starter. The negative cable ALWAYS goes to ground on the engine block (with a second smaller wire usually attaching to the inner fender off the battery terminal).

You sure you have the battery hooked up right? Just getting polarity reversed on a jump start rarely blows the whole electircal system to heck.

jg95z28

Something is definitely wired screwy....

Most original 67's also have a positive ground which is usually connected to the headlamp assembly....

For the cables:

(+) positive cable under the engine along passenger side to starter solenoid on the starter.

(-) negative cable usually grounded to the engine block on one of the waterpump bolts.

Just because one cable is red and the other is black means jack. Check where they are connected. As described above is the correct way.

Now after additional research, its also likely that cross-wire jump start attempt has fried the diodes in the alternator, so you're going to need to check that too. However before you do anything else... make sure the positive and negative cables are connected correctly.

kacy

ive heard of someone doing what has been done to his car for whatever reason they wired the car wrong basically it makes the entire car have current running through it looking for a ground instead of power going through wires then grounding to the frame it will have to be corrected

dj haf

the car used to work fine the way it is... (which happens to be wired backwards, lol)... ill try to fix it soon.

ill also take a look at the starter solenoid and the voltage regulator... thanks guys.