I accidentally hit the valet switch with my foot with the engine running and it killed the engine and then smoke came from the terminals above the battery, not the battery itself and now I have no power (although it dings with the key in ignition with door open. I checked all fuses and I have no idea what to do. I put a battery tender to it and still nothing. I tried disconnecting the battery for 5 minutes and reconnecting it with no change.

EDIT: I don't think it's called the valet switch, but when you disconnect your battery, you must push this switch while turning the key for it to start, but you will have power everywhere else, pump will prime etc, but it will not start unless you hit the button. What is this called?

Headlights work, Windows don't, Electric Seat adjustment works, no fuel pup prime and nothing lights up on the gauges.

 

Did you check the fusible links attached to the red battery terminal box? Sounds like they blew.

Courtesy of Shoebox:
http://shbox.com/1/fusible.jpg

 

That's where the smoke came from, they LOOK fine, but I don't know what to look for.... if they blew, how do I fix this?

 

If they blew, they need to be replaced. Check the ohms across the link. If the resistance is infinite, the link is gone.

Are we talking about a factory alarm/switch, or an aftermarket system?

 

It would seem to be an aftermarket button, sounds like no one has one from the factory, but I am still unsure of why it would be put there if aftermarket. I just inspected the fusible links again and saw a few splits in at least one of the wires, it even smoked a bit more and made a noise inside the car while I was moving it around.

It says 2.0 sq mm and 1.0 on the other. When I look up new links to buy, it only gives me gauge, not mm, how do I figure out which gauge?

And how do i splice the new links in? Is there a fuse in the middle of the joint i see in these links? I guess I am supposed to splice it in behind that because the new one woul have something like this:
http://www.napaonline.com/Search/Det...691_0212984295

 

They splice in. There is just a piece of wire inside that melts.

Size conversion:

http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/aw...uge-d_731.html

 

Thanks Injuneer.

But it shouldn't still be smoking right? I am concerned that there is still a short somewhere and it will just happen again, because when I inspected it with the battery still connected it continued to smoke a little when I pulled it up. The ohm readings where intermittent with the battery disconnected. Even though I really think it is the button that did that, like it overloaded because the car was already on or something, but then why would it be smoknig still, just because the wires are exposed? I really don't think the wiring under the kick panel is so sensitive that anything could have been dislodged when I adjusted my feet under there.

 

If its an aftermarket system, you're going to need a bit of luck to figure out where the problem is. Pull all the red wires/fusible links off the terminal. Check for DC current between the terminal bolt and each individual wire. If the wire is smoking, its got to have amperage flow that's making it overheat.