"westom" <westom1@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:88dc02a2-00c0-413b-87b8-306100b0c5a5@k8g2000yqn.googlegroups.com...
> On Apr 19, 9:13 am, "NancyR" <nan...@nospam.net> wrote:
>> Two different people checked the battery and said it was fine. One put
>> his
>> battery in my car & the result was the same - nothing, no click.
>
> First, don't let anyone do that kind of major surgery again.
> Everything you and he needed to know comes from using the meter - as
> honda.lion properly described. Replacing the battery was the last
> thing anyone should have done.
>
> Second, this is simplest electrical stuff. Meter measures battery
> directly on both terminals. It should read 12 VDC. Watch it
> yourself. Then leaving one probe on that battery, use the other
> probe to follow that wire to its last connection. If voltage
> disappears along the way, then what is wrong is clearly obvious. Even
> a teenager can do this.
>
> Repeat same with the other probe following that other wire. Anyone
> who could not do this is the last person you want swapping batteries.
> And had he done this, then he would have never swapped batteries.
>
> Third, chances are honda.lion is correct about the main fuse. But
> main fuses do not blow by themselves. That mechanic should have been
> looking for the failure that the fuse was protecting from.
>
> Fourth, - and this is critically important to get the problem solved
> the first time. When you first got into the car -- before even trying
> to start it. Was there ever any lights or noise? IOW the fuse blew
> at a particular point. What was the exact point of blowing?
>
> Based upon what he checked, well, was it really the main fuse blown?
> If so, then (if I remember this car), hazard lights and horn would
> still work (with main fuse blown). Or was it just some other fuse
> that was erroneously described as the main fuse?
>
> Finally, after the fuse is replaced, a mechanic must use that meter
> to also confirm other problems do not exist; that even the charging
> system is outputting proper voltages. Again, he must not just replace
> the fuse. He must also find the failure. None of that involves
> cleaning cables. It involves measuring for and locating something so
> massive as to blow a fuse that large.
>
> See where the second biggest cables go? To blow that main fuse
> involves something large enough to blow a 100 amp fuse and not blow
> smaller fuses. That implies a short inside a fuse box in the rear of
> the engine compartment right side. Same box that holds the main
> fuse. Is something loose and moving inside that box? Only that would
> explain a blown main fuse.
>
> The point: information provided because too many people with
> insufficient knowledge have been 'helping' and because it sounds like
> (remotely possible) your help might be into enriching themselves.
> Provided was enough information so that you might see through a poorly
> informed mechanic before paying through the nose.
>
> If he does not have a meter (as described by honda.lion), then he
> has no business working on your car.

Thanks for all the good advice, westom. I live in a very rural area with a
shop that just does basic things. The person who put his battery in my car
is a friend - no charge. Obviously he took his battery back. The main
fuse was blown, I'm sure, as the copper wire between the two pieces was
burned out. There was no power at all - no lights, no horn, nothing.

The shop people charged $100, which included changing the oil, picking up
and delivering the car. If they can't fix it today I'll have the car towed
to the big city.

I drove the car last Saturday afternoon/evening. It ran fine. I didn't
get in the car again until Tuesday afternoon. That's when it would not
start. My friend fiddled with it on Wed.; the shop guys got it Thursday &
brought it back - running - late Friday. Sat. morning I tried to start it
with no luck. My friend checked the main fuse again & it looks fine. We
are old retired people, not professional mechanics.

Nancy