Ok. I had one of those incredibly stupid moments that has been haunting me all night. My battery died. I got a new one, put it in the car, backwards, attached the cables. I still can't believe I did that. Smoke came out from the engine, while making a high pitched whine. Possibly the fan? Dont know
When i realized what I did, i fixed it. Car started right up but Now I have the generator battery warning and voltage less than 12. And the radio is dead.
What a freakin idiot I am. I am good for one of these once in a while.
How badly could I have damaged the car? Everything else seems to be working.

 

I would probably check your fuses, all of them ..

 

Also check your alternator. That could be what you burned up in the engine area. As the engine is running, your meter should read around 13.3 volts and at 3,ooo rpms or so it should read around 14 volts. If it is not, you probably burned up the alternator.

 

Most likely the regulator on the alternator. If it's only that and the stereo, you got lucky. Are the remote lock, cooling fans, windows acting normal?

 

Remote seems to be fine. Auto window didnt work but I reset them and they are ok. Don't know about the fans.
I night dropped it off at the dealer last night. I didn't tell them in my note what I did. Quite embrassing. Realized during my crappy night sleep that i need to tell them. Worried they will want to fix or charge me more than needed.
Did I say I'm an idiot? Was in a tremendous rush. Car was in the street in the middle of a busy town Not paying attention. Ugh.

 

Don't sweat it. Car will be fine. And, you will never do it again right?

 

Make sure that you had at least 3/4 of a tank in the car. It will register your fuel sending unit if you did with less it will cause havoc on the fuel sending unit . It will not register correctly , at least thats what I experienced.

 

Thanks. Car needs a new alternator. If I said how much Porsche is charging me, i have no choice. At least double what an Independant would charge. This is why they say measure twice cut once. Never do something in a rush. Even easy things.

 

Why not tell the stealership thanks for the diagnosis and do it yourself? $400 bucks

 

Although I am very handy (insert joke here), I have never done engine work like that. I would have considered taking it to an independant but the nearest one would be very far, and i could not take the chance of having the car die on the way. I am so annoyed at what I did, I just want it fixed so I can make believe it never happened.

 

That reminds me of the time that I personally bled the brakes of my Morris Cooper S. Bloody car had to be flatbedded to the shop. That was the last time that I did anything more than pumping the tires.

 

I once measured once and cut twice (fortunately it was only a curtain rod ). Glad that it's "just" an alternator. Hope you're back to enjoying your car soon!

 

The expression "buying experience" rings true here. Ca-ching! You just forked out for some.... Could'a been worse....