Jumper Cable Disaster!!!

[dfskinner]

Well, yesterday I can out of where I work, take the ride on the shuttle bus to the parking lot, approx. 2 miles away. Went to crank my Taco and it just clicked, which was telling me that the battery was so low it couldn't turn the engine over. The guy in the spot next to me was on the same shuttle bus, he asks me, Need a Jump? I told him yes, he said I have cables. I raised my hood, removed the cover on my battery terminals, both pos and neg, and stepped in between the two vehicles. He told me go ahead and get ready to start your truck, I'll hook up the cables. Well, I wasn't really watching what he was doing except to see him put the cables on my battery and then on his. Once he connected the cable to his battery I noticed that nothing was on in my truck, and now it wasn't making any noise, no clicking, the radio wasn't working, the little bell that rings after you start the truck, nothing. I looked up to see the cables starting to smoke, I jumped out, grabbed the cables from my battery, and asks him "What the hell"??? He had put the cables on wrong on my battery. He's now saying "I'm sorry, I'm sorry". Well, to get to the point, I had to call the Toyota dealership, and low and behold they told me what to check, just to get the truck started. The 80-amp fuse in the fuse box in the engine compartment was blown. He told me to use a screwdriver, or something to push the burned points together. I did, and then we attempted to jump the truck again, this time I did the cables, magic, it worked. However, I have no radio or clock. They seem to be the only things that didn't start working. I checked the fuses, for those two, they're not blown. I drove straight to Advance, purchased a new battery and new 80-amp fuse.

Does anyone have any idea why the radio and clock wouldn't work?

Thanks for any help, and sorry for such a long story. I learned something yesterday; Don’t let anyone put the jumper cables on your vehicle.

Dennis

[mountainpete]

Dennis,

Have you check the fuses for the radio and clock? Most likely it blew a few other fuses other than just the one. After something like that, you might want to go through them all in the box under the hood and inside the cab left/below the steering wheel.

Pete

[dfskinner]

Pete,
I pulled the one for the radio, it wasn't blown, but I'm not sure if any other fuses are in-line for the radio. I called a local Automotive Electric, $45.00 will tell me if the radio, clock and power door locks are fried. I'm hoping it's just a fuse that's not readily accessiable in the fuse boxes. If anyone out there has any other ideas, pls pass them on, I was hoping to avoid spending any more money. The truck is at the dealership today, so they can change the clutch on the fan, started making this terrieble noise yesterday, not sure if it was affected. What started out as just a dead battery is probably going to cost me money. Thanks again for any and all help.

Dennis