I have an 04 dodge neon SXT that will not start. I bought the car not running, they said it needed an alternator. So, got a new alternator, and replaced it. Car still would not start. Neighbor next door said it's starter. Looked down in there, nothing was hooked to the starter. Went to parts store, tested starter, starter was bad. Got new starter and have put it in. Here's the issue. I have 2 separate battery cables in the positive battery terminal. I have 2 cables off the negative terminal as well. One of the cables on the positive runs to the fuse box under the hood. One of the cables of the negative runs to same fuse box. The 2nd one that is connected to the positive terminal is a big cable, and looks like the other positive cable that is running to the fuse box. I am trying to find out where I hook all these cables up to on the starter. I was told by one parts store that there should only be 1 cable hooked to the starter aside from the black wire box that hooks to the solenoid. Another parts store told me to hook the positive cable to the bottom bolt that is connected to the frame, and the negative cable to the top bolt. A third parts store told me that this extra positive is my ground, and that it can't be connected to the frame, which is where both the bolts on the starter actually connect to, otherwise I'll burn out the starter before I have a chance to even use it. A fourth parts store told me that the book says disconnect cables, and put them back how I found them. I didn't disconnect the cables from the starter to begin with, so it's kind of pointless telling me to go backwards in putting them on, when I don't know where they went to begin with. Just really at a loss as to what is supposed to hook to where, and I just dropped the last bit of cash on the car and new starter to begin with, so it's not like I can have it towed again to a mechanic to pay him to hook everything up. If anyone can give me some information on this as to what goes where on this car and how many cables are really supposed to be there, it would be greatly appreciated.

 

Your stock #1 line should have a red plastic tab on it. The neg lines are grounds. Be sure to sand away any corrosion.