ok, so my wifes neon would not start today (2005 sxt) i tried jumping it and it would start but as soon as you took the jumpers off it would die. i thought alternator but my dad said on some of the newer cars the car will not run with a bad battery or no battery. so i took the battery to get tested but upon taking out i noticed the positive terminal was not completely broke but had a chunk missing. so while getting the battery tested i got a new connector. they said the battery was fine, but noticed one of the cells was dry, we were all puzzled how there was a dry cell but it was registering 577 cca out of 500.....

but they told me to connect a good battery to it to see if it would start with a different battery. i tried to hook my optima yellow top to it and didnt notice the terminals were opposite (stupid me) and sparks flew....well i put the old battery back in and the car fired right up, but now i have no power locks, no interior light, no radio....nothing comes on untill the car actually starts when you turn the key....i checked all fuses and they are all good....is it a relay??? is there a hidden fuse somewhere that controls all this crap??

need help asap as this is our daily driver....

thanks

jon

 

also forgot it flashes "fuse" in place of the odometer.....

 

Does the dome light work? The dome light, stupidly enough, is an inline fuse. Being an SXT, you probably have a trunk light? I've heard that is a possible inline fuse too. There is the interior fuse panel, and the fuse/relay panel in the engine bay. You checked both?
Either that, or a ground may have been fried and needs to be fixed. Weird everything comes on with the car though...

 

What I mean is I get dash lights and stuff, but no radio interior some light windows locks....none of that works at all...have not checked the trunk..

 

CORRECTION: power windows work...
Interior dome light, power windows, radio do not...still have yet to check the trunk..

 

I'm assuming you again meant power locks don't work, not power windows? Since the dome light doesn't work, have you checked that too?

 

I got it...it was the fuse under the hood that is covered by a plastic thing...it was blown at the very top and was hard to see...

 

I think that's one of the MAXI type fuses? Anyways, good job finding the problem!

 

i'm having a similar problem with my dash lights and my powerlocks and trunk popper. all my idiot lights work but the gage lights dont work and when you hit the lock switch you can hear the little box under the dash click but nothing happens same with the trunk switch