Complete Short Circuit

Okay... Me being the idiot I am decided to cut a power wire while the connections were still on the battery. Needless to say, the bolt cutters I was using touched the chassis of the car... Spark, Spark... etc. etc. The power in my car goes out... Of course, all the accesories were on.

Few questions: 1. I checked the relays and 4 of them appear to be out. They click everytime I put each in with current running. (Does this mean that it is blown?) The fuses are still intact.
2. What other maladies will I have to address? I pulled the relays and absolutely nothing really works, except for a few lights on the instrument cluster that glow dim.

As of now, my battery is disconnected. Any help's appreciated as I'll be installing subwoofers tomorrow and need my car up and running ASAP.

They click everytime I put each in with current running
They Should click, if the others are not then they are the blown ones. Sounds like youve got a problem. I cant think of anything alse that might help but, what i would do is get one that clicks and put it some where else and see what happens, maby take out all other ones and see if that one works, maby that will narrow it down. Hope this helps.

Check your fusable links near where the positive wires connect to your starter.(They look like a fat section in the wire.)If one of these goes you can loose multiple circuits, on some cars you only have one, if it goes everything is off.

There is only one that doesn't click, so I guess that is the issue. I'll pull all the fuses check them again and plug them back in, pull the other relay and see what happens... How much are relays?

Relays are usually cheap, under $20. The fusable link is not in the fuse box. It works like a fuse but it is in the 10 gague wire that connectes to the starter solenoid. For an accurate price on your relay check www.autozone.com

Are you sure the relays are supposed to click? Everytime I reconnect the positive terminal, 5 do which never happened before...

New Information: I began resetting the relays and electrical systems are coming back on. Does anyone know the locations of all the relays in a 94 Toyota Corolla?

From a tecnical standpoint nothing should be been harmed in the system because the short happend inline before all the electrical components, but strang things do happen. Yes relays should click, however I have seen some that were bad that still clicked. Most of your relays are going to be underhood or on the interior fuse panels.

Next Problem: Everytime I turn my car on, there are buzzing sounds coming from the relays? Any clues as to what's going on?

Update: Any component that draws a substantial amount of electricity will reset indefinately. ie. turn off, turn back on. Any ideas?

Problem Solved.

Solution: Went around and reset every relay in the car. 4 in the main fuse box, 2? in the secondary fuse box, and 3 in the fuse collection under the driver's kick panel. I also went around, disconnected a few connections, reconnected them, and finally disconnected the alternator and reconnected it. This was for a 1994 Toyota Corolla Automatic. Direct short circuit from the positive terminal to the chassis while the car was on accesory mode.

Thanks for the help guys. Greatly appreciated. Nice forum you guys have here. Pretty damn comprehensive and you guys are pretty knowledgable.

good job, i hope thats it. yesterday at school i was helping a kid trackdown an open in the fan circuit, he sparked a connection to ground. sorry to say, at the end of the day the fan would run but the PCM died(i told him to disconnect the battery, but nobody listens to me)

Well... I woke up to a dead battery, so there's a short somewhere still. A few issues arose like yesterday but not as comprehensive. Still cannot crank the engine, so I'll be back at it and keep you guys posted with information.

Any help would be appreciated again.

Alright: Checked all the relays, two weren't working like they were supposed to. Fixed them, plugged them back in. (That may solve my electrical discharge problem, however now everytime I connect the terminals, the engine wants to start. I removed the power to the starter, and now there's a loud click everytime I connect the positive terminal somewhere around the back of the engine. It appears that everytime I remove a relay/unplug wires, current is trapped in a loop somewhere else. Some things are operational while others go out and "random" lights display on my gauge cluster. IE. oil indicator lamp for one loop, defroster lamp for another...

I just about unplugged every relay in the car, and every wire connector in the interior.

Does anybody have any clues as to what may be the issue now?

If it wants to start when you connect the battery check your starter solenoid and ignition switch. This would certainly kill a battery fast.

Okay my car is quickly turning into one of those Myst puzzles. Apparently, the order in which I connect the relays matters. That may explain the problems I'm having with various electrical equipment jumping around the vehicle. If anyone has any further understanding of the particulars of the car electrical system, specifically for a Toyota Corolla 1994, much help would be appreciated.

As of now, I'm connecting relays with a voltmeter connected to the battery watching the voltage drop/rise/stay. I feel as though I'm that guy in Apollo 13.

Update: I got the majority of power flowing where it should. I'm playing around with the interior relays, only I can't seem to find a combination that works... If I can't find a way by tonight, I'll end up towing it to the toyota dealership tomorrow. So quickly throw in any comments/suggestions/insights/epiphanies.

My car is currently in the Toyota Dealership. It costs $350 just to look at the problem. And possibly upwards of $3000 if a computer is fried. Anybody think insurance would cover this? I do believe I have everything but collision.

Word back from the dealership:

Total Cost: $550

Diagnosis: When I short circuited the engine, power went directly to the chasis. Luckily for me, the 3 Gauge(!!!) grounding wires I had installed a few weeks before took the hit before anything else could.

The only thing that is gone is the Alarm System, so $350 for the initial check of the car and $200 to remove the alarm and replace 11 or 15 wires.

Getting the car back tomorrow or Thursday... Just in time to build my ported box and install my new Pioneer/Premier Amplifier and 10" Subwoofers. Woot.

PS. Thanks for all the help you guys provided. Much appreciated!

Got the car: The final price came to be $795 + tax.

5 Relays were blown, however they didn't appear to be when I was fixing the car... And I just opened one now and it appears to be fine (wtf?)... Anyway here are the five: Defroster, Fan, EFI, Taillight, and AC.

Started to put back the electronics in the car, Radar detector, Radio, Buttons on the panels and everything appears to be in working order except the defroster.

So there you have it. One mistake turns my stereo system into a $1400 stereo system where it should be $600.

At least I got to keep the damaged relays. Gonna check them and make sure I wasn't screwed, considering the relays are $85/piece.

I'm gonna test them, open them up and fix them if they're broken. So if anyone's interested in any relays for a 93-97 corolla (possibly other Toyota Models?), I got 4 of em since I'm gonna use one. They're the black headed, single throw, 4-pin relays. Toyota Relay ISO M4-S