Car tries to start when I connect the battery!???

If anyone out there knows what my problem is... You get props. I'm lost.

I just replaced a bad alternator. The procedure was short enough, I can tell you everything I did. Unplugged battery(seemed to be fully charged), disconnected cables from alternator, switched alternators, reconnected cables, and reconnected battery...

That's where things went wrong.

Of course, I connected positive, then negative.

Positive cable... nothing happens.

Negative cable... big sparks and car keeps trying to start!(it never does, just keeps turning until I disconnect cable.)

I'll add that the battery seemed to be fully charged still.

One more thing... I disconnected the wire between the alternator and starter from both the alternator and starter(long story.) However, I'm sure that I connected it back to the starter just as I took it off.

I double checked that everything was just as it was with the old alternator.

Has anyone heard of anything like this???

Any ideas of things I can check for???

Any help would be appreciated.

Without knowing the year/make/model, it sounds like you connected the wire to the starter on the wrong terminal. Double check again, or at the least, pull the wire off the starter and check for cranking. If it doesn't crank, you found the problem and should have no problem fixing it.

Thanks for the reply.

It is a 1994 Saturn SL2 and I'm pretty sure it is on the right terminal of the starter because I only took off one nut from the starter. I'll try taking it off and see if there is an explanation I can conjure up.

Thanks again.

call me crazy but there are only two cables that go to the alternator and one doesnt fit on the other. not much room to make a mistake if you ask me least thats how it is on my 89 toyota

i think theres some thing wrong with your ignition like that thing you put your key in and turn to start the car i would bet that is it..

That's right, on the alternator... We have only two cables. No room for error. They can't possibly get switched. It is something besides the alternator.

Without knowing the year/make/model, it sounds like you connected the wire to the starter on the wrong terminal. Double check again, or at the least, pull the wire off the starter and check for cranking. If it doesn't crank, you found the problem and should have no problem fixing it.


I pulled off the wire between the starter and alternator and then connected the battery. There wasn't any cranking. This doesn't really help me though because I'm 99% sure the wire is in the correct place.

I don't know if this helps, but it is a slide on connection that is on the same terminal on the solenoid as the wire that comes from the battery. The two of them(connector from battery and one from alternator) are slid on one on top of the other.

stuck starter solenoid? very poss. All safety/ig circuits are on the primary side of the relay,once all those are completed the solenoid closes and completes the starter circuit. if the solenoid is stuck it doesn't matter if there is a key in the ig. or not, it is directly connecting the battery to the starter motor. I'm a motorcycle mechanic-haven't spent too much time under a hood so correct me if I'm wrong.

stuck starter solenoid? very poss. All safety/ig circuits are on the primary side of the relay,once all those are completed the solenoid closes and completes the starter circuit. if the solenoid is stuck it doesn't matter if there is a key in the ig. or not, it is directly connecting the battery to the starter motor. I'm a motorcycle mechanic-haven't spent too much time under a hood so correct me if I'm wrong.
My thoughts exactly. If the wiring is correct, then the solinoid is stuck. Try tapping it with a hammer. Usually its on top of the starter motor itself.

However, I suspect its a wiring problem. It could be that the fat positive wire going to the battery is also touching the thin, small switched power wire, which comes from the ignition key.

Finally, the terminal for the fat positive wire might have broken INSIDE the starter, causing an internal short.

ah-ha! a saturn! my specialty.

heres what to do: get a very strong flashlight and a handheld mirror, check the starter to besure there is NOTHING connecting the small terminal with the purple to the large terminal with the heavy red wires. even a small loose strand would short it out.

also, pulling the IGN 3 fuse will cut power to the ignition switch.

if ether of those two tests don't work, disconnect the purple wire from the starter, if the start still runs disconnect the heavy red wires from the starter, test the resistence between the large and small terminals on the stater. OFL means the starters good(WTF??), less then 2 ohms check the termials again for a short, anything else the solenoid is stuck