battery appeared to be going dead (it's the original on an '03) so i pulled it and had my son pick up a new one while he was out. in the meantime, i got a fire call (i'm a volunteer firefighter), so i tossed the old one back in (i had it on a charger just in case) and in my haste i swapped the cables- put the neg cable on the positive terminal, and vice versa. bad news.
after a little diagnostic work, i found that the charging system fuse (#62- it's a big sucker at 140 amps) was blown. i replaced it, and put in the new battery. car still wouldn't start, so i found that one of the other fuses (a small 10 amp atm style fuse) related to fuel injection was out. i replaced that fuse also, and now the car starts and idles normally, but only barely accelerates. if i put it in park and hit the gas, i can only get 2500 rpms.
i also have a dash warning to check the vsc, i have an icon on the dash that says vsc off, and the check engine light is on. radio display is completely dead, but i suspect that issue is not related to my acceleration issue.
any thoughts on what the acceleration problem is? towing it to the dealer is a major problem because i live in the sticks, and the tow would be big bucks.
thanks in advance.
btw, if anyone in the future searches for how to replace fuse 62, here's the trick- there are four plastic tabs that hold the fuse box together. two tabs are on the front side of the box, and two on the back. take a regular screwdriver and press straight down on the movable part of the tab and the fuse box will start to separate. it helps to do both the driver's side tabs at the same time, then do the passenger's side at the same time. with the box separated, use a 10mm ratchet to remove the bolt holding the wire to the bottom of fuse blade closest to the front of the car. use an 8mm ratchet to remove the bolt holding the wire on the fuse blade towards the back of the car. be careful not to lose the bolts into the bowels of the engine compartment. the fuse will now slide out the top easily. replace and reverse the process.