My SRT6 had been sitting for a while in my car port, and the battery died.

I bought one of those battery chargers that also has a battery tester built in, and when I hooked it up, it said the battery was bad. I took the battery into Pepboys and they tested it. Their tester said the terminals were reversed (although they were correctly hooking up the positive to the + post and negative to the - post on the battery).

OK, looks like the battery bought the farm, so I got a new one with matching specs, a Bosch. Got it home, dropped it into the battery bay (fits perfectly), and as soon as I hooked up the battery terminals smoke started coming from the area around the alternator, I disconnected the battery immediately. The terminals were correctly attached to the right polarity.

I'm at a total loss here, I don't know where to begin testing.

Anyone ever seen anything like this on their Crossfire ?

What should I start checking/testing?

Thanks,
Brian