Hooked + to - for battery change, need to change alternator useable link

HELP!! A friend tried to be a “bro” and swap my battery in my 2019 Tacoma and accidentally mixed up the battery terminals and tried starting the car a few times blowing my 140A alternator fuse. I tried to change but it is bolted in, local mechanic is trying to charge 800$ on 5hrs of labor, Toyota dealership is saying 1 hr but 140$ for the part. Anyone have any suggestions? Is it as simple as switching the fuse or is the issue the whole fuseable link like the dealer ship said?

 

Usually the whole fusible link block and you need to remove the junction block and disassemble it.

It's a massive pain to do, also if you re-arrange the connections in the wrong order or don't seat them right it can cause issues later on.

If you decide to do it on your own, be warned, you will break the tabs, and cutting the zip ties that hold the block together are hard to cut, I use a heated razor blade to cut them carefully.

Bad luck, sucks to hear.

 

1. Find another friend pronto.
2. Take the one hour and $140 for parts and thank your lucky stars.

 

^^^This^^^

 

Yeah definitely ideal, but I already used my AAA tow and miles to get it to my local mechanic and would have to hassle with getting it towed another 30 ish miles to my closest dealer…

 

Damn, I had a feeling it may be a bit out of my wheelhouse. thanks for the insight, looks like I need to find a way to get it to the dealer,

 

My AAA gives you four tows a year per person. Me and wifey. They don’t care if you tow to your house and the next day, take it to the dealer and then the next day take it to your local mechanic.

 

I had to fix one shops repair, they got pissed off and drilled a hole into the junction box just to get one of the 10mm bolts lol.

I freaking hate this job, and would quote more than 1 hour lol.

 

There are tabs holding the various trays of fuses and relays. The trays are removed from the rear, hence you need to unbolt the whole box to remove the bottom. When you get the tray that secures the 140A fuse it's two bolts.
This a "view" of the underside, tray removed. (Whoever removed it had no clue cutting the wires)

Below are the various parts that make up the fuse/relay box: Red arrow shows fuse tray where 140A fuse is held.

This is the tray

This is the rear view (sort of)

Bolts on each side holding fuse secure.

 

Thank you all for the help! I decided to just let my local shop do it, charged me 3hrs labor and they had to change 11 fuses! PSA don't hook the battery up wrong! OMG

 

Still amazes me that my $100 jump start box can detect backwards connections and protect the truck, yet my $40k truck can't do the same thing.

 

Yeah I'm shocked they didn't make some sort of fail-safe that is easy and cheap to fix, I guess they want to capitalize on stupidity

 

It did, burnt the fusible link, instead of catching fire, and burning the whole truck to the ground. It just is an expensive fix, when it happens. Ski

 

Yeah totally, but they could have had a fuse before it gets to all the components that blows first and is easily accessible

 

Uh, the OP said

Even though the battery studs and battery cable ends are different taper sizes, it happens.