Good Deed

[I luv herfrds]

Came back and bit me in the backside.
Going through a town on Saturday, a guy had a car broken down in the right lane at a stop light. He asked if I would give him a jump. Being a nice person I stopped to help.
His car wouldn't start at all and had trouble turning over. Told him I thought something else was wrong with his car. Tried once more, still the same thing. His friend showed up and they pushed the car out of the way and I continued towards home.

Husband came in the next morning completely ticked off. The guys car fried the battery cable on his truck.
Now we have to wait and see if it damaged anything else that was eletrical.
Cost of the good deed gone bad: $124.00 worth of new battery cables.

 

[Jogeephus]

I guess thats why they say no good deed goes unpunished. Hope you get it fixed.

 

[I luv herfrds]

It just got worse Jo.
Husband changed the battery cables last night and the truck started. Now this morning it won't even turn over.
Husband takes very good care of his vehicles, so you can understand why he is so mad right now. He had just had the relay replaced in it and a bunch of other work done on it. :cry2:

I don't think I will ever help someone jump their car again unless the husband is along.

 

[1982vett]

Something just doesn't sound logical. In my opinion to fry a battery cable (or any wiring) you need to have a serious overheating of the cable (short) which would be between your battery and your vehicle not the battery and the other vehicle.

 

[alacattleman]

the other vehicle probably could have caused it. these electronics today take alot of power, you just can't hook cables up jump and go, did you hook the cables up with the truck still running?? his battery could have been shorted from a over charging alternator

 

[Lammie]

Similar thing happened to my son's car at work. He jumped the battery for a co-worker and it fried his battery. Luckily, the co-worker paid for a new one because she felt bad about it.

 

[bigbull338]

sometimes jumping people off will blow the battery.sorry doing a good deed bit you on the butt.

 

[1982vett]

, did you hook the cables up with the truck still running?? his battery could have been shorted from a over charging alternator

Something just doesn't sound logical. In my opinion to fry a battery cable (or any wiring) you need to have a serious overheating of the cable (short) which would be between your battery and your vehicle not the battery and the other vehicle.

Kind of what I was saying. 

He had just had the relay replaced in it and a bunch of other work done on it. :cry2: I don't think I will ever help someone jump their car again unless the husband is along.

Something tells me we were already having some kind of problem.  But I am by far no expert.  Might be nothing more than inconvenient timing that makes it easy to blame someone. Nothing says the cables wouldn't have fried anyway from a problem not yet evident which brings rise to this question. How is your starter acting? I've herd tales of batteries exploding but because I have never witnessed it doesn't mean it won't happen.

Anyway, hope you get things sorted out and don't let this keep you from helping someone when all they need is a jump start.

 

[alacattleman]

we get em all the time..... you dont want too jump a late model vette off with out watching your P's and Q's you'll spend thousands replacing electronics

 

[hillsdown]

we get em all the time..... you dont want too jump a late model vette off with out watching your P's and Q's you'll spend thousands replacing electronics

Good point alactlmn, ILH was that a vett you boosted cause I know there must be oodles of them driving aroung your town this time of year.. :lol2:

Sorry alactlmn not making fun of your post but I got a laugh out of the whole scenario of ILH boosting a vett in the middle of practically the artic..

Sorry about your situation ILh, I hope your hubby can get it fixed without to much trouble and dollars.
I aggree with Jo ,it seems sometimes that old phrase is too true...

 

[Jogeephus]

I once helped a guy jump his truck off and his battery cables were those good ones you get from China. Sparks were flying everywhere until I traced the cable wires to the opposite end and they had the clips reversed. This could have caused some major problems.

 

[I luv herfrds]

1982 he was having trouble with the truck starting for quite awhile. Since he is also a diesel mechanic he tried tracing down the problem. Finally got fustrated and took it to another mechanic. The problem? A clip holding the relay wiring had worked through the plastic covering and the wires were no longer completely connecting. :lol2: This was fixed at the beginning of '08.
Husband had checked his truck over completely the night before I left making sure everything was fine. The battery cables had also been replaced at the beginning of '08, so we know it was the other guys car.

Jo husband is wondering if his cables were bad or if his battery was mismarked.

alacattleman I was always taught to hook up battery cables to the dead battery first, red to red and black to black, then hook them up to the other vehicle and have the vehicle doing the jump running.

No HD it wasn't a vett. :lol2: :lol2:

 

[Jogeephus]

Jo husband is wondering if his cables were bad or if his battery was mismarked.

After my experience I will rarely ever use another person's cable. I've saw a battery explode once and it will leave a mark on you. Scary business.

The fella you helped wasn't a little wormy fella with dark hair was it. If so, if might be the same guy I helped cause I seriously doubt he had enough sense to get rid of the cables or to re-lablel them.

 

[grannysoo]

I guess thats why they say no good deed goes unpunished.

Ain't that the truth.......

 

[Calman]

I have had a btry to explode on me before. It was scarey.
The best way to avoid this is to hook up to the dead btry first ,making sure you have pos to pos and neg to neg.Then connect the pos cable to pos on your btry,next connect the negitive cable to a place somewhere on your engine. NEVER hook the neg to your batery and ALWAYS connect the negetive LAST.
This way if it's accidently connected wrong and causes a spark it wont be near the explosive gasses in your or his batery.

Cal