I got a buddy that had the same problem as you with the battery draining down and believe it or not he did the same thing as you by hooking up the cables backward! Now this was on a FURD but he found that there was a fusible link coming off the positive cable that was fried and his alternator was also fried. I would check all that because he described to me the same things you did about what would and wouldn't work. Good luck!

 

I'll be the dick that says it; If you don't know what you're doing, don't do it.

You're lucky the car didn't go up in flames.

You should have a fusible link somewhere around the starter solenoid. Unfortunately, it doesn't break or snap, it melts. There could have been a lot of damage done before the fuse went. Also, a lot of fuses will not blow during a dead short because you're simply reversing the flow of power. A lot of things will be ruined, but a lot will also be good. I doubt any relays will be blown.

You want to know where to start? Start peeling off the conduit on all the wiring harnesses. Look for melted wires, figure out what they go to. Look for arc marks.

If you caught it real fast, you may not have much wrong. If you didn't, you have a nightmare on your hands.

I had a dead short years back when my battery decided to fall off the tray. It took days of tracing wires and rewiring things.

FYI: An alternator will not go out from a dead short, but an alternator is the cause of your initial problem.

 

Greg,

You may want to start by getting a FSM for your Jeep, it will have all the wiring diagrams specific to your Jeep. Most likely there is a fusible link, but tracking its location down can be a real PIA!

If you can get your hands on a scanner, even an OBDII, plug it into your diagnostic port and see if it will link up (communicate) with the onboard computers. It may be able to give you clue as to where to start. Look in the owners manual that comes with the Jeep, it should give you the location of the power distribution Centers for the large, small, pico fuses and relays. The Main computer controls the charge rate of the altenator, My best guess without using a multimeter to at least see if the system is charging, is to guess altenator, its also conceivable that you lost a ground to the chasis. Check all the simple things first

Good Luck---if you haven't already, it sounds like you're going to get a good education about automotive wiring and process

 

You reminded me of something I forgot to mention.

Almost all of your fried wires will be ground. I would hook into the computer first as well, there's a big chance it's fried. PCB's don't like power where there should be ground.

 

^^^ yea this has never happened to me but god i can only imagine the hell that has been released in that vehicle.

 

+1 on the alternator. Had an old hyundai before that had 3 alternators go out in two years. Same original problem. I actually put a battery on a semi backwards once. Didnt mess up any wiring or anything but i definitly needed new battery terminals to replace the melted ones.

 

I also did this once back in my youth on an old 70 chevy truck I had,It came out unharmed but there wasn't much to hurt on that old truck,ahhh the good ole days.... Let us know how it turns out.

 

Did this on a 72 Olds Cutlass, no damage. Had two different cab drivers that worked for Happy Trails do this to, respectivly, a 98 Lumina and an 02 Century, also no damage. (other than, of course, the fusible links in all three cars, which did their jobs very well)

 

looks like im a little late with my input haha seems like these guys got it covered. well done gentlemen. hope you get the problem fixed