This is my first post because I couldn't find my answer looking online. For starters..I have a 1992 Ford Ranger 4.0L 4wd.

Yesterday I drove to work and forgot to turn off my headlights. Long story short, dead battery. We bring over an old airplane tug to jump start it with some old jumper cables. It's dark out and we start hooking up the cables. I hook the black clamp to the black terminal (-) and the red clamp to the red terminal (+). Same thing on the other vehicle (airplane tug).
I turn the key and instant POP with a lot of smoke! I unhook the clamps from the battery. We look close and see they are labeled differently than they should be. So then we hooked it up 'correctly' with the red clamp to the black terminal etc. It was charging the battery but it won't start now.

It burned the wire that goes to the starter. We cut the wire, shortened it and reconnected it. We checked all the fuses (under the dash and in the box under the hood) and they all look good. Now, when I turn the key, the windshield wipers start moving, I don't hear the fuel pump turn on, there's no power to the radio. What am I missing?

Thanks for reading

PS the tug is a 12v

 

If it's a manual, have you tried doing a rolling start?

 

It's possible you fried your ECU.

 

Start simple, cable and solenoid, then to the bigger, more expensive stuff like the computer, the starter, the main harness… !

Was the tug a 24 volt system… ?

As 00GreenRanger stated, doe sit jump start, that way you can see if it will run.