Ok so:

It was a cold, dark, and rainy night.

The alternator goes out on my 1989 HB Civic.

Previous owner had body resprayed and didn't do a good job of tape prep. Obvious engine bay red over-spray, is obvious.

Negative battery cable is now bright red. Positive battery cable is wrapped in black electrical tape.

I removed the battery in the dark and rain to get it checked. When putting it back in I accidentally installed the terminals backwards following the traitorous custom red/black switcheroo color scheme.

Purple smoke pours of of fuse box on passenger side of engine bay.

Noticing what I did, with inhuman speed I rip the cables off the terminals but damage done.

60 amp fuse cable insulation melted, 4-prong slide connector closest to 60 amp fuse blackened and melted.

Get alternator replaced and battery hooked up right and take car for test drive. Lights are now nice and bright but Speedo/Odo no longer working.

Replaced 60 amp fuse and cut -> solder -> heatshrink -> wrapped new slide connector from local junkyard onto harness... No change. Nothing else seems damaged and everything else on the car works.

What do?

 

Only thing it could be with is the speedo cable. check to make sure its in the tranny all the way or the gauge cluster

 

So is this cable a purely mechanical part? Is it near the alternator? Could it be something possibly knocked loose? I've heard the initials VSS (Vehicle Speed Sensor?) is this what I would be looking for?

I tried to follow things around the fire-wall but nothing looked clearly like a mechanical cable. Would you know a clear place to start?

Thanks for the response!

 

Facing your engine, the speedo comes out of your tranny just below and to the left of your distributor. It is a black plastic/rubber coated cable that runs behind your intake and into the firewall at an angle just to the right of the center line about 10 inches down. Look to make sure the cable is pushed inside the tranny. There is a c-type clip that should be holding it in there so you shouldn't be able to just pull it off without removing clip. Pain to get too. Hope that helps

 

You might have bumped the speedo cable removing the alternator
Try to push it back in and see if that helps
I've knocked mine out before replacing my alternator

 

Oh

My

God

Thank you EVERYONE!

It was just loose in the firewall. I pushed on it a little and it slid right back in and worked no problem.

Almost took the thing to the shop!

Thanks again so much!

 

Well I'm glad we could all help. However! The cable has clips at the cluster side and the tranny side, so don't be suprised if it stops working again. Unless it's been tampered with it should never just need a push.

 

I think I know just what happened.

When I was replacing the Alt. I placed it on the back firewall lip center of the block -right up against the speedo cable- and when I attempted to extract the alternator (I hadn't removed the mount that was bolted to the block yet) I must have tugged it out of place.

I will keep an eye on it.

Thanks again!