Electrical issues HAAALP!

[coeurdelovesyou]

So I've been using this page for some time now but have never actually made myself visible. I recently had a horrible horrible stupid moment where I was in a hurry and slapped my vans new battery in backwards due to the posts on the opposite side. I had a job I was late for and didn't wanna miss it.. I made matters worse. Now I'm 8 days deep trying to fix my troubles. First it blew out some fuses in the fuse box, as well as my fusible links except the 2.0 one which was still sparked to a crisp. I replaced everything including a new .5 fuse thanks to the fusible link thread on here. After these repairs I was able to get my car fired up(nothing wouldn't happen before,) as well as test some codes I'm reading which read 4, 6, and 11. My issue now is that I lack power when running, I haven't yet tested my alternator but I will tonight when I borrow my friends tester. I'l fire up the beast, sounds fine, battery is good, starter works like a charm, then I put the e brake down... dead. Start her back up, turn on the headlights.... dead. Start her back up, turn on the fan... dead. Occasionally the headlights will come on without killing the engine but its a rarity. I had my battery tested and its all good, I replaced the negative ground wire from battery to the engine block as it was before. I'm fresh out of ideas, I've read it could be poor ground connection? any Ideas are greatly appreciated, I promise I tried and tried to get her running before I turned for help but I'm growing desperate. Oh one more thing, all fuses replaced except the hazard/horn fuse in which it will burn any fuse I put in there, yesterday I tried to put a new fuse in and smoke started pouring from under my stereo? I went to un plug the fuse and it blew up in my hand(not dramatic.) Could this be caused by a short somewhere? I'm pretty amateur but I'm learning, throw anything at me I'll try and fix it. Cheers!

[coeurdelovesyou]

Update: I'm balls deep in the van right now, I'm noticing my connection to the alternator seems dirty/corroded, also I might mention that before I replaced my fusible links I had replaced the negative ground cable from the battery to the block, maybe the connection there is poor? Maybe I did something wrong? I'm no mechanic but I love to do this myself and learn, any suggestions are appreciated. The bolt on my ground wire is rusty as can be as well. Thanks cheers!

[coeurdelovesyou]

Well I got a new ground, now my car has no power, I even went back to the original cable to see if it was causing it and nothing. I didn't disconnect anything and made sure I did the process right. I'm literally hitting my head against the van please someone help. I have to get this rig going so I can get to a job and not go brokeeeeee. Cheers

[coeurdelovesyou]

WTF did I do???? Someone please, The car would start just fine after replacing the fusible links, now that I tried replacing the grounds wire again theres absolutely nothing. I cleaned the bolts, and made sure everything was tight. I did nothing to the positive terminal. Im so confused.. I had so much progress for it all to be swept away. I really need someones help here, I wish I could just afford a mechanic at this point but no sir. I have to magically get this started tonight or I loose my job. Gahh Imma keep working on it till I fall asleep in the engine. Hopefully something will surface.

[coeurdelovesyou]

I believe I've fixed the problem. I'm going to re assemble the babe right now and see if I can't go on a small test drive. What I found was my terminals although new were still corroded slightly which made an impact. I just replaced the terminals and had power, slightly. With a multimeter I re checked all my fusible links and found slight disconnection due to my poor skills. It was fusible link 1.25 I believe. I also grounded my negative battery to my frame and body. Now everything seems to be working as it should, better in fact. Did I figure it out? I'm the biggest idiot yet I ended up learning so much I can't complain. I was going to try to delete this thread but can't figure it out as it is just a bunch of complaining mostly. I guess as long as it stays up if anyones as stupid as myself maybe this will help. Cheers!

[boogieman]

i think it was switching from beast to babe...congrats!

[tbkilb01]

doing a simple voltage drop test across battery terminal and cable connector will tell allot about the connection. no voltage should show up with this test while cranking. all voltage from battery should be dropping at the other end. corrosion at terminal or in wire itself will not let all 12 volts needed to get to components and it will show up cuz dropping at terminal with this simple test. sometimes its under plastic sleeve around wire, causing resistance looks bluish!
if tests good at battery connection problem is at the connection at other end.