1993 Nissan Sentra - Dead Electronics

[ArcherV20]

1993 Nissan Sentra GXE (1.6 engine)

Here is the general outline of my problem, no one seems to know what the issue is, but it's causing me a lot of grief in my daily driver..--

- Headlights were left on over night draining the battery dead. - When attempting to boost the battery.. sparks, and smoke came from the positive battery terminal. (The negative was already connected at this point)- After an unsucessful boost, I hooked the car up for a short time (20 - 30 mins) to a battery recharger.

At this point the car started and ran fine HOWEVER

The electronics seemed to be dead, this included : Wipers, Gas / Temp gauge, cruise control, brake lights, turn signals, day-time running lights, defrost, and heater (brrrr). Also at this time I could not move the car out of park without using the shift-lock release button.

The only things left working were the engine, and the radio for some strange reason.

Days after driving around crippled the engine died, it needed to be boosted only to shortly die again, I got home with a friend following me behind and boosting every 5 minutes or so. (dead alternator?)

----

I have checked all interior fuses and they are intact. I don't know which engine fuses to check, and I'm at a complete loss to where the problem is originating from. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Modified by ArcherV20 at 8:25 PM 4/4/2009

[ArcherV20]

Bump - Please help

[IanS]

I would check all of the engine fuses, it is extremely likely that at least one, if not more is blown.

If no fuses are blown, then you have a short. This isn't the end of the world. Because so many accessories are not working it is likely a major short, very close to the battery. The fact that the alternator has also stopped working lends credit to this as well. This leaves a relatively small area where the short could be, which means less tearing apart your wiring harness.

Check the fuses, then check the wiring between the battery and fuse box/alternator. Then get back to us.