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Electrical trouble after jumpstart cables with wrong polarity

Tiny
GORDON2
  • MEMBER
  • 2001 TOYOTA CAMRY
  • 2.2L
  • 4 CYL
  • 2WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 220,000 MILES
I jump started the car listed above that had a drained battery. I had the jumper cables on wrong polarity for ~30 seconds. After that, I did get the car to start but all of the electronics no longer work. I cannot even see the odometer. When the engine was running, I used an Actron Battery/Alternator tester to confirm the battery was not being charged. I tested the Actron Battery/Alternator tester on a different car and the tool does its job. I suspect a blown fuse simply because nothing is working. Will hunt for that but otherwise would appreciate any suggestions. It was a 100 amp fuse link.
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Friday, January 29th, 2021 AT 12:10 PM

7 Replies

Tiny
STEVE W.
  • MECHANIC
  • 12,968 POSTS
Could be a blown fuse or two at least. I would grab a simple test light and use it to run the fuses in the under hood fuse box, then the one behind the instrument panel. Sometimes a reverse polarity will only blow some fuses, other times it can do much more damage, but start with the fuses. These are the starting and charging circuits and those fuses but there are many more that may have failed, these are just the more likely.

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-check-a-car-fuse
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Saturday, January 30th, 2021 AT 11:00 AM
Tiny
GORDON2
  • MEMBER
  • 65 POSTS
Thanks for the help. It was a 100 amp fuse link. Also blew 20 amp radio fuse, suspect it was on at the time. I made many mistakes replacing the fuse link. A video on that would be helpful. Thanks again.
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Saturday, January 30th, 2021 AT 3:47 PM
Tiny
STEVE W.
  • MECHANIC
  • 12,968 POSTS
It gets interesting when determining if something was on or active at the time. That is why there are no real "Go replace part X" solutions to a reverse polarity problem. Pretty much every vehicle is different. Sometimes they only blow a fuse, other times you may as well scrap them because it takes out half of the electronics. Those links are sometimes a pain to deal with. Depends on the model and how they installed them. The ones that simply plug in are pretty easy, then there are the ones that bolt in with a comb of open metal links. Those are fun to install without damaging them because the metal can bend as you tighten the connections down.
If I recall yours uses the block style that bolts into the bottom of the fuse block, Is that correct? You have to remove pretty much all the relays then lift the box to get to the covers and remove the nuts that hold it in.
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Saturday, January 30th, 2021 AT 4:40 PM
Tiny
GORDON2
  • MEMBER
  • 65 POSTS
I first disconnected the cable from negative terminal on the car battery. The front of a fuse box is located between the battery and driver's side front fender. The fuse box extends back towards the driver's seat and is about a foot long. If you remove the fuse box cover there are a few sections of plastic fuse box that mount into a lower plastic frame. There are some pieces of plastic I had to bend back to lift the first to sections upward to access bolts holding the 100 amp fuse link. The wires and cables below prevented me from completely removing these parts of the fuse box. The rear bolt is an 8mm and the front is a 10mm with some red ink on it. I dropped a bolt into the plastic that goes quite a bit below but was able to retrieve it with a magnet on a stick tool. I obtained a new 90982-08246 Fusible Link from a local Toyota dealer and replaced the broken part. I reconnected the cable to the negative terminal of the car battery. After that the car ran and battery was charging, with indication that the regulator was limiting voltage as it should. Most of the electronics work but the radio did not. Replacing a 20 amp mini blade fuse fixed that.
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Saturday, January 30th, 2021 AT 5:32 PM
Tiny
STEVE W.
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Yeah, that is the one that you normally unbolt the fuse box and lift it up to remove the covers and get to the bolts. Many people will hook to the top and think it pulls out like the later ones. That makes a real mess because it tends to break the lower section of the box.
Yours should be more like the one in this video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQowZNSrffA

The attached image is one version of the comb style.
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Saturday, January 30th, 2021 AT 5:40 PM
Tiny
GORDON2
  • MEMBER
  • 65 POSTS
The video does tell a similar story. Some of the equipment varies by vehicle. I cut and pasted some images related to replacing the 100 amp fuse link on the 2001 Camry LE.
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Saturday, January 30th, 2021 AT 6:51 PM
Tiny
STEVE W.
  • MECHANIC
  • 12,968 POSTS
That is one of the things that makes working on some of the imports "fun" they use different versions of parts even in the same model lines. I know of at least 5 different versions of the fuse link systems on Toyotas. Plus many have an old style fuse link wire as well.
Nice write up. Thank you.
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Saturday, January 30th, 2021 AT 7:43 PM

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