I got problems hopefully people still check this site regularly. I had a battery issue ealier and came home to swap battteries with my wifes car. I was careless and in a rush, I pulled the stock battery (with terminals on the left) and threw in my wife's battery with the lining up the terminals on the left. I hooked it up and heard a small pop, I disconnected it right away and realized that the polarity was switched. Now none of the electrical works and the car won't shift out of park. How screwed am I? How dumb am I? And how can I fix it? Please help.

 

You blew fuses. And lots of them. Something similar happened to a friend and what was blown were the thermal fuses.

Most cars have much larger fuses (usually under the hood) to protect themselves for just this case. I'm not sure where they are located on the Scion, but I would look there first.

In the case of my friend, it was an Acura. She had to buy the fuses from the dealer, and after 2 were replaced......... car worked perfect.

Let us know what you find.

 

in the large red plastic cover on the positive terminal side, there is a primary fuse on the xB

 

Yup, you are right. Good one !! But....... Is that the ONLY one, I wonder??

 

Good chance that is it. If things seem to work after replacing that one simply operate everything else in the car....check fuses for anything that doesn't work

 

Yep, that one fuse is there to protect all the others. Should be good to go.

 

That one big fuse on the battery post is called a fusible link...
When the polarities are accidentally switched on the battery, this link will ALWAYS blow 1st!

 

Yeah, most of us every 15 minutes. It hasn't been discontinued THAT long.

He must have seen one of BB2ner's five-year-old resurrected threads.

Sounds like you only fried one fuse...thank Toyota's engineers for that one. Good luck!

 

Thanks guys I'll check that fuse and let you know what happens. Next time I won't be in such a rush, I've had nothing but bad luck with cars and life in general since I moved to Co. and when the fuse blew the one in my head blew too. I'm glad to hear it may not be so bad. Thanks again.

 

I'm not the only one doing it.
There are no 5 year old threads yet. The site didn't start till 4/10/03

 

fuseable link

 

Be sure and report back with your results.

We'll help you with your bad luck with your car, AND we'll even help you with the bad luck in your life. Just ask us..

 

It was the 120 amp ALT fuse in the red box just like you guys said. I'm headed to the Toyota dealer right now since it's not carried at the local car parts shops. Thanks again.

 

glad to hear u dont have any major damage

 

^^^Let's hope...