1995 Ford Taurus Logo
JC Posted on Feb 04, 2009
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Trying to change battery; sparking occuring

When I put the battery in (so I can read everything as I'm facing which hputs the + on the right and - on the left) I get a spark when I try to connect the pos cable.

I'm TOTALLY car illiterate but know some electrical,...so,...

I'm confused why the red cable coming to the battery has a black connection and the black cable has a red connection. Does this have no regard as it does in other electrical systems?

I was given the car from a friend who has let it sit for a year. She had no problems with it and I've driven in it with her, so we jumped the battery to get it to my house. Drove it 6 miles. Got out and in 20 minutes completely died.

Any suggestions?

  • JC Feb 04, 2009

    OK. Well that's all right so far then! The problem is there is no external key,...so the only way into the locked car is via the keypad. (They key was broken / lost years ago) So no battery,...no entry! Hmmm,....a pickle, eh!

  • JC Feb 04, 2009

    Thanks everyone, for the assistance! I was able to get in, replace the battery, and get into the car. Oddly, the car won't start, but everything runs inside! Maybe a fuse?

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3 Answers

Anonymous

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  • Posted on Feb 04, 2009
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Did you trace the cables to see were they went? the neg. cable will go directly to engine block or anything metal on engine, pos. goes to starter. How big of a spark did you get when you hooked up the pos. cable? you will get a (little) spark when you hook it up thats most likely from the clock in the radio or the memory in radio, If you got a BIG spark thats not good, but i kind of dought that otherwise you would have been calling the fire dept. because you hooked up the cables wrong. you dident say why you had to jump it to get started. i'am gussing the battery was to low to start it. do you know if it was charging? was the battery any good when you put it in there? was it new, used or what? food for thought the next time you chg. batterys always hook pos.first and neg. last then if it sparks it won't feed back to the computer and maybe do some damage to it. And why are the cables that way who knows its a ford they always did things alittle different.

Brian Mathews

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  • Posted on Feb 04, 2009
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Are you sure this is the correct battery for this model?  It is not universal as to which side the positive and negative are on, so if you took a battery out of another car and it's not the same configuration, it may not fit.  Red is positive (+) and Black is Negative (--).  Red always goes to either the starter or a solenoid on the inner fender or firewall.  Black will go to the engine block or to the bracket holding the alternator, or some other large mounting area. 

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  • Posted on Feb 04, 2009
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Hi Real,

Right, left, don't care. What matters is positive to positive and negative to negative.

Important: Wear proper eye protection when working with batteries.

The negative cable, regardless of color is the ground. It will be the one that is attached to the engine block, frame or both. It gets connected to the negative battery post, marked with a minus (-) sign. The other is positive..

If it sparks when you try to connect, that means something is drawing power. Make sure everything is off. Then try it again.

Comment me back with any remaining symptoms.

Best regards,
Mike

  • Anonymous Feb 04, 2009

    Yeah, thats a fun one.
    Get a flashlight and a long screwdriver.
    Go to the grill and look for the cable from the manual release.
    The left side of the cable is attached to the release latch.
    Get the screwdriver on the left of the latch and gently nudge it to the right.
    That will pop the hood and give you access.

    I might mention that little tidbit would have been useful to know before rating me. I fully expect an upgrade to FixYa. lol ;-)

    Try it out. let me know how it goes
    Mike


  • Anonymous Feb 05, 2009

    Describe the symptoms.

    Turn the key and nothing?


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