1993 Saturn SL2 Oops. Did I fry computer?

ZATRONY

MEMBER
1993 SATURN SL2
4 CYL
2WD
MANUAL
233,000 MILES

I was hooking up my positive battery cable (I know, I should have not had the negative hooked up too). I pulled the wrench down too far and sparks flew. When I tried to start the car the starter just kinda growled and all the dash lights went crazy. Even the fan kinda turned on even thought it wasn't on. Seems like I must fried the computer but wanted to check if it could be anything else or if I could do some test before I get one from a junkyard. Thanks so much for the help!

5 Replies

SATURNTECH9

MECHANIC
30,869 POSTS

Doesnt sound like ur computer the starter doesnt go thru ur computer. The yellow wire terminal d on ur ignition switch feeds power thru ur clutch switch to ur underhood fuse box ign3 fuse to ur starter solindo. Sounds more like u have a blown fuse burned wire loose or corroded battery terminals bad battery bad starter. Lets start from the begining why where u taking ur battery cables off to start with?

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Tuesday, January 19th, 2010 AT 1:21 PM

ZATRONY

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3 POSTS

Thanks so much for your response! So after I posted that, I unhooked the battery for a while and I could finally get it to turn over and it seemed like all the accessories were working normally again. However, it would only run if I would give it gas through the pedal. As soon as I let the pedal off it would die. I had unplugged the battery originally to clean the posts, even though things were fine. No troubles before I arced it

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Tuesday, January 19th, 2010 AT 5:03 PM

SATURNTECH9

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I would say u probably have a bad coolant temp sensor but u said u didn't have a problem before the arch deal.U should have it scanned for codes let me know what u find.

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Tuesday, January 19th, 2010 AT 5:26 PM

ZATRONY

MEMBER
3 POSTS

Thank you. I did scan it and it only showed code 12 which means its in diagnostic mode I believe. This was a relief though as it seems then that computer is not fried. I did change the coolant sensor a while back. Could they crazy stuff I described at first with the flashing dash lights and starter cutting out be a bad battery ground? I was searching around for melted/burned wires and found both battery grounds to be quite corroded so I cleaned those up. Now starts quite good but still the idling issue.

Can a bad alternator due this. I read somewhere that a fried alternator could cause idling issues. I could have burned that baby up when I made my major boo boo

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Tuesday, January 19th, 2010 AT 10:24 PM

SATURNTECH9

MECHANIC
30,869 POSTS

Yes a bad alternator could cause alot of differnt problems but how bad did ur arch the battery?If u have a voltmeter u can hook up to the battery and turn the a/c blower on high high beams on while it's running and see what voltage the alternator is putting out?How long ago did u replace the coolant temp sensor it's pretty common for them to go bad there under 20. So the car runs great except at idle?How does it run at idle?