How in the Heck, electrical probs!
 

I am currently deployed, and my wife decided to change the battery in her 2003 Ford Taurus. How it happend, I have no idea but she put the cables on backword when the new battery was in. She said the horn went nuts and wouldn't shut off til she disconnected it. Once she realized what she had done, she corrected the problem. Car started up fine but the radio and AC were inoperational. She found the blown fuses and went about her business. A couple hours later she said the car started to dim and stall out. That tells me that it is the alternator! What I want to know though is before I have her take it in (since I am not there to do it) is there a fuse or relay that may have blown that would not allow the alternator to work? On a second note, when she was replacing fuses, the metal piece on the board itself that the fuse goes into disappeared. Is that fixable or do I have to buy an entirely new fuse box (this is the one under the hood)? Thanks for any assistance anyone can give me.

RE: How in the Heck, electrical probs!
 

There's a 175amp fusable link on the side of the battery junction box, but you would loose most all power distribution.. The other 'fused' circuit protection forcharging is positions F1.25 10amp in the battery junction box (BJB), and F1.27 10amp in the central box (CJB)..