Well as I am getting ready to prepare my engine out of a 2004 RX-8 for a rebuild, I was hoping to start the vehicle to make sure there is no other problems besides the engine itself that should be addressed.

Now for a quick run down of an update to help the gurus assess possible problems here is a short span of the vehicle activities

November: Started car by jump starting and moved into current storage and pulled battery.

December: Attached cables from a battery in a running car to the positive and negative lines in the rx8. Had full function of all power options but not enough power to attempt to start.

February: Again attached cables from a battery in a running vehicle to the postive and negative lines in the 8. This time I got absolutely nothing except for a very weak security light and a charging system warning light.

Today: Put two different batteries in the 8 with a charger attached and have seen nothing within the vehicle.

The battery that was in the vehicle before I pulled it was practically dead. I saw it from the light that having a battery placed in the bay that was dead is just the same as just hooking the cables directly to the positive and negative line if I was attempting to jumpstart. That is why I decided to just hook directly up.

Now that I think about it, it was a pretty stupid idea. I do not see how it would affect the power system though. Unless it possibly shorted a circuit or blew a fuse?

Also, I have been highly confused if I have the correct idea on the orietation of the charge of the lines. I remember distinctively that the line with the large fuse or whatever on it is positive (+), but is the line that is somewhat attached to it with the red line intertwined with it also (+)? Or is the solid black line the other (+)?

Currently I have the line with the fuse on it and the line with the red line intertwined with it connected to the positive (+) and the solid black line connected to the (-).

Thanks for all of your help,

GerryE.