...when someone tries to jump-start another car, and instead of the car starting, the jumper cables start smoking and the plastic covers melt instead? My gf just called describing this very problem and asking for the significance, since I'm a guy and therefore know everything about cars.

11/16/2007 4:17:36 PM

sounds to me the jumpers were reversed

11/16/2007 4:24:33 PM

Sounds to me like an acute case of Y chromosome deficiency.

11/16/2007 4:26:03 PM

^ & ^^ are both correct [/male chauvinist]

11/16/2007 4:32:20 PM

Maybe they said something like "OMG I have this sweater that is black and red striped and it looks so good; let's hook the cables up that way!"

11/16/2007 5:57:29 PM

if the positive touches a ground (any metal on either car) this will happen

11/16/2007 6:02:14 PM

sounds to me like it was really you and not your GF.

11/16/2007 7:28:44 PM

that and or and internally shorted battery, but that usually starts spewing acid too, or you have a pair of 10ga scooty puff junior cables from toys r us

11/16/2007 9:57:41 PM

sounds like someone is a blood relative to slowblack96

11/16/2007 11:22:02 PM

^^^Nah man, I've gotten so much practice with my current car I'll never screw up like that. And I haven't, which is why I was confused with her description when she called.

Anywayz, they eventually got it to work. Thanks for the [creative] answers.

11/17/2007 12:04:57 AM

Quote :

"internally shorted battery"

my vote. if cables were backwards the interior of the car would be filled with smoke.

11/17/2007 7:50:04 AM

^so when you reverse cables, basically all the electronics are toast? I've always wondered if there was some kind of safety at least on the harnesses etc where the circuit breakers and stuff are.

11/17/2007 9:53:11 AM

^not every time.

ive seen plenty of reversed hook ups. interior still works

11/17/2007 10:08:12 AM

So, I got an update. The battery was bad or something, so they had to jump the car again once it got to its first destination. They arranged the cables like they had the second time, after melting them by placing them the wrong way. And this time--when in the correct position--the plastic melted some more. So they went back to the first (seemingly wrong) way of doing the cables, and jumping that way worked. Now I am totally confused.

11/18/2007 2:20:33 PM

sounds to me like they have no business messing with cars much less driving one.

11/18/2007 2:51:00 PM

Haha, maybe so. But I guess that means that nobody should work on cars if they ever screw up.

11/18/2007 5:20:35 PM

i cant stand idiots that have a bad battery that jump it half a dozen times and dont realize its gonna destroy the alternator drinving it like that, or a bad alternator that keep jumping the battery and running it down to destory it, fuckin a, trobleshoot shit people, batteries don't go dead for no apparent reason

11/18/2007 6:08:42 PM