Paint job gone wrong; crazy problems

[foxracing12]

Ok here we have my girlfriends 1994 mercury cougar xr-7 4.6L.
Got a paint job at a school. Decent paint job, but after driving it home the battery level lowered. We left it running in the driveway for a few minutes to see if it would charge.. to no avail. the level continued downward. At this point we began noticing many small problems. ABS sensor lights, airbag lights, no power mirrors, the radio turns on but no sound comes out of the speakers, at one point the engines voltage became so low that when you open or close the door, the lights turning on and off in the interior made the engine race itself. The battery was brand new when it went in. Now, it puts out less than 10 volts when shut off. When running, the engine puts out 8 volts (after being jumped of course) leading us to believe the alternator was toast. 170something dollars later, no luck. same problems.


thanks for reading that.. so now I'm thinking theres a short circuit or a bad ground. when they painted it, they obviously removed the headlights. im wondering if there was a ground somewhere that wasnt replaced properly. even worse, the shop had to jump the car when it was in there; im hoping they didnt reverse polarity and fry something? i have no idea. but now the car has a new battery and alternator and is still being drained. if anyone has any ideas.. we'd both greatly appreciate it. thanks very much