For anyone following the thread about the 1968 f250 with a bad lug, this is the same truck.

Well, things have gotten worse. Did some research, found diagrams that showed the firing order and none of them matched my current wires. So I redid it, and it didnt start. Checked battery, it was dead. Pulled it out, realized it was a BOAT battery! So went and got a proper battery, went to put it in and was super confused as to which way it was meant to go. The wires that are supposed to be red and black? Ya, i have blue and green... Tried researching it, only thing I found was that one side is wider then the other. So was messing around figuring out what fit where, and accidentally touched both terminals at same time, unfortunately while it was backwards. Got the spark and a bit of smoke. Put it in the right way, but it won't start now. So now my question is, what do i need to replace? How do I find blown fuses and whatnot?

 

At very least you blew the alternator.
It is not red-to-red etc. It is + to the solenoid and - to the grounding point on the block.
Get a proper battery and put it in properly with cables that are the proper color to prevent such mistakes as this. See what happens and come on back in if you still have problems.
Good luck.

 

In addition to the alternator, you may have taken out the Voltage Regulator... especially if it's one of the newer, electronic units... the original mechanical units seem to be a bit more robust about such things.

Don't feel bad, you aren't the only one making mistakes today

 

Some people do not pay attention when they buy batteries. The GM, ChryCo and AMC batteries have the terminals reversed!

So when they install the cables on their Fords, they are bassackwards!

People have to pay attention to make sure that the + and - are in the same location as the original battery. Otherwise...

 

True story:

Wife and I were driving the old truck (looked like my current one, 'cept it was a stick) below the border in 1989. The wife had never been to Mexico before, so we spent two and a half days driving across the top of Baja, went down to Puerto Penasco, came back into the USA at Douglas, AZ.

While we were in Baja, we stopped at this cantina, just to use the parking lot (the desert grows right up to the edge of the asphalt down there, and there's rarely a shoulder to park on).

While we were there, this Mexican man (in full bracero outfit, Levi's, Stetson, western shirt, cowboy boots, etc.) came up to the truck and asked for "cables". I had a little bit of trouble with his pronunciation until I spelled it out in my mind. He needed a jump.

I dug out my heavy duty jumper cables and brought the truck over to where his Mustang was sitting.

Before I could get out of the truck, he had the hood open... I said "Momentito!", but it was too late.

I plugged my ears with my fingers, and the Federale that was standing there gave me a very curious look... until he heard the last clamp of the jumper cables go "SNAP!"

Sure enough, Mr. Bracero had hooked the cables up backwards.

The Federale let out a machine-gun-rapid burst of Spanish at Mr Bracero, of which I was able to catch two words: "negro" (he'd switched yellow & black), and "estupido".

You can bet Mr Bracero was V-E-R-Y cautious when he hooked up the last of the clamps correctly.

Part of the problem is that the top of the Mustang's battery had melted to slag. It gets so hot in the Sonora Desert that there were no longer any symbols molded into the top of the battery that indicated "+" or "-". The only way to make sure was to follow one battery cable to ground, etc.

Fortunately, there was almost no damage, and we were soon on our way again.

 

Many years back I stopped right next to work to help a fellow with a dead battery. I popped my hood and helped attach the cables. No problem. I thought. Suddenly my truck engine slowed and then almost died. YIKES!! Seems his truck had a severe short and was quickly killing my battery. I pulled the cables just in time and was able to keep my truck running. I told him he had a real problem and I was not able to do anything else for him. I got to work and luckily had no future issues with my battery.

 

Freight, it might not have been as bad as you think. Your alternator went from no load up to full output- maybe it was calling for 30 or 60 amps depending on what chargo
ing system you had. The kickback on the alternator belt will load the crank and slow the engine.
Just a thought.

 

The positive post is slightly larger in diameter than the negative post, but as many people have discovered there isn't anything to prevent someone from rever$ing polarity. I've never done it, tho I'm not sure why exactly, because I've done plenty of stupid **** along the way.

Surprising that the manufacturers never made them idiot-proof (1956 would have been a good time maybe) by making one of the posts square or something like that.

 

Battery cables with 6V were much thicker than with 12V

Cadillac & Oldsmobile were the first with 12V, circa 1953, other GM and Packard in 1955, FoMoCo & Studebaker in 1956. I don't recall when AMC & ChryCo went to 12V, possibly in 1955 or 1956.

The early Cadillac/Oldsmobile OHV V8's when hot wouldn't start. You'd grind away on the starter till the battery died, it was a real b!tch!

The solution was to install an 8V or a 6/12V battery. The 6/12V battery had a starter solenoid mounted on it, you'd start on 12V, run on 6V

 

Sure, but the battery terminals, battery posts, have never changed. It's sort of strange to me that every single electrical connector I can think of only fits one way EXCEPT for the battery itself, and when these are reversed it can cause huge problems. Some applications make it tough because the length and placement of cables is such they won't reach, but a determined sort can make it happen.

 

Any battery that has a part number that begins with a G is for GM/ChryCo/AMC

The Ford specific batteries begin with an R .. Examples: R-22-F (45 amp), R-24-F (55 amp), R-27-F (70 amp), R-27-FA (80 amp).

The GM/ChryCo/AMC batteries have the terminals reversed compared to FoMoCo batteries.

It was somewhat common at one time (could still be today, because people do not pay attention) to buy...then install a G battery, then the cables are hooked up bassackwards!

 

If we're going to redesign the battery terminals and cables, I'd suggest that one terminal be half-inch in diameter, and the other terminal be inch or inch-and-a-half. I'd stick with round barrels for the terminals, mainly because it's easy to make a terminal-cleaning brush to clean them.

 

 

Never assume anything, a battery can be charged backwards. And why can't you get the plug wires on right? The firing order is on the intake and finding #1 on the distributor is remedial,

 

A battery can be charged backwards?