Ok, So here's whats up. I have a '88 Ranger that sat for two weeks and the battery went completely dead. I hooked up the jumper cables to jump it. I hooked them up Backwards though. Not sure how long, but something by my battery started to smoke a bit. That's what made me realize. I turned it around and waited a few minutes. It wouldn't start. Sounded like an issue that my bud had once with his Ranger where it made a loud clicking noise and that was it. I just figured the batter needed more of a charge. I let it sit, and tried again. Still nothing, the lights would all flicker but nothing, then after trying again she fired right up. I noticed at that time that the light on my dash and my radio light were all flickering to the sound of my engine. I just figured that it would go away after my battery was charged. So i drove it home without any issues other then when i would come to a light everything would flicker worse then when i was driving. I drove it around for about an half an hour and it kept doing it. So i went home and shut her off and was curious if it would start back up. and nothing. Just a loud clicking noise from the right side of the truck. Is this a solenoid issue? Or did i maybe fry something worse? Any help would be really nice.

Thanks
~Brett

 

reversing the polarity can easily fry computer and other small electronics. and that stuff is hard to diagnose and expensive to replace. I did the same thing on my old 88 mx 6. But in my case i fried the computer and it was dead as can be. Had to buy a used computer for it.

 

Is it a clicking noise like a tapping or is it a clicking noise like a thunking?

 

It ended up being my Battery and Alternator. Thankfully i had just purchased the battery like two weeks ago, so i was able to return it with the playing dumb card. The truck sat for two weeks after i installed the battery. I'm just happy to have it fixed.

 

good one! Glad it was not some of the bad stuff that can happen. Thanks for letting us know and BTW welcome to the boards!