Cross connected battery terminals on my Altezza, should I worry?

[Dirk Jan]

Hi, 

I bought my first Altezza back in January, but as it is in a bit of a sorry shape it needs some work to get it looking presentable. So last saturday I finally found the time to get started on it properly. I spent all day working on the suspension of the car. Being absolutely knackered from spending 8 hours laying on the pavement, I reconnected my Battery to be able to drive the car back into my unit. However, I made quite a stupid mistake while doing so and wrongly connected the terminals. Saw a few sparks coming from the terminals and realised I had messed up, so I quickly switched them over. 

Now when I put the key in the ignition and turn the key, nothing seems to be happening until I try to actually start the car. It still runs, but nothing at all on the dash is working (gauges, heater, power windows, electric mirrors, radio, wipers, lights). Dome light, alarm and hazards still work though. A quick Google search told me that some dude with a IS300 made the same mistake, and had blown his 120A alternator fuse and few other ones as well. Turns out I blew the same 120A fuse, but couldn't find any other blown fuses (there might be though, I was quite stressed from the whole thing so I didn't take a proper look). 

Does anyone know if the blown alternator fuse could cause the problems I have? And is there any other fuse boxes in the car apart from the one under the bonnet and behind the passenger side kick panel? Is it possible I have damaged any wiring looms or will it always blow the fuses first?

Thanks,

DJ

[Cracksta]

Sounds like a few fuses were blown, its designed to blow when these things happen so it doesn't fry your electronics. You can have a look at the car manual to see which fuse relates to what, if you dont know or unsure then i would carefully unplug 1 fuse at a time and replace whichever one is broken.

[puma]

Its a while since I got rid of my 200 but follow the + line from the Battery and it should feed into a fusible link before it starts feeding into the fuse box. The fusible link is like a big strip of metal that taps off power to your other systems and is essentially a bigger fuse. I know its not the same engine but most modern cars use this system.

[Britprius]

Hi DJ.

As puma above suggest the likely thing is the fusible link. This is not always readily noticeable. It is often hidden in the fuse box under a clear cover, and looks like a long metal strip with metal take offs along it's length, and is not always easy to replace. Sections of this link may be burned away. As with all modern electronics reverse polarity connection can cause havoc.

John.