Q: Hooked up battery cables to wrong car when jumping it

asked by on August 26, 2016

My friends car had a dead battery so she and I looked online to figure out how to connect the jumper cables. We ended up attaching the cables to the wrong car in that we attached both the pos and neg cables to the dead car's battery and attached the positive cable to the pos battery spot and the negative cable to a metal piece in the car with the working battery. It ran for about 2 minutes before we realized the mix up. Now the car with the working battery still runs but makes a clicking/vibrating noise when it is stopped and/or parked and the car is on.

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You may have damaged the car you were jumping from. I have seen alternator, ECM, various relays, and fuses damaged from improper jumping. You should monitor the problem to see if it continues to get worse. If so, have a local expert inspect the clicking noise and pinpoint any appropriate repairs that should be made.

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