Need Urgent Help! My guages and speedometers arent working! Options

[Mannyrav]

Here's the situation. I went to buy a new battery because my old one was bad. My father and I went on replacing it, (we're not the most car-literate people), and we accidentally put the battery on backwards. A few sparks flew, but nothing big. So when
we installed it properly, we turned on the car, and it ran smoothly and all of the lights work.

Problem is, the guages, speedometer, fuel indicator, all of that stuff doesn't work; including the radio, but the radio is the least of my worries. The battery light stays on too. First thing that comes to mind was that there was probably a bad fuse. We tested all of them in the car and under the hood, all but one were good. I replaced that fuse (20v fuse under the hood), and still nothing! What creeps me out the most though was when I proceeded to drive the car, the shift knob wouldn't get off of 'park', so I had to force it in order to drive to Autozone. The second concern was that there was a delay when the car was shifting from first to second. Whatever the problem is, it's pretty important that it's fixed.

So to summarize, here's the problems specifically:
-Gauge doesn't work (speedometer, gas indicator, ect)
-Battery light stays on
-Windows don't work (power windows)
-Cd player/speakers don't work
-Shift knob stays on park
-Car delays when shifting (it's an automatic too...)

Guys please help me! This is my only car to get around and I can't afford to have it in this condition. Any tips are greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!
-Manny

By the way, the wipers don't work either. Which is pretty crucial here in South Florida during Hurricane Season

This post has been edited by Mannyrav: Aug 22, 2008 - 8:21 PM

[Remy]

Sounds like you fried your wiring harness don't try to fix this problem yourself I recommend a reputable shop or a good toyota dealer either way it'll be expensive to fix.....

[Batman722]

what 20v fuse under the hood ?

1 - the big ALT 100amp fuse is the problem. You would need to unbolt it from the bottom of the box to replace.

2 - you fried a wire to the alternator

3 - you fried the alternator

I would check these 3 things first in order, get back to me when you do.

[reko]

Yup i agree with all those answers... you fried something, and its probably going to be a pain in the ass to fix... since, like you said, you aren't really into ''cars'' and DIY

I did that too with my DVD player... plugged the remote in some **** top way and ended up burning the amp and the DVD...

[Mannyrav]

Haha it was the 100 amp fuse! Dude batman you rock thank you so much man! One of my father's friends came by and took a look at it and said it was the fuse, so I'm not sure what he really did; I think heremoved the fuse and wired everything together or something..not sure I was at work at the time. He said it'll be fine like that temporarily but that I need to replace the whole box.

Thanks to everyone who replied to this, I would've been lost

This post has been edited by Mannyrav: Aug 24, 2008 - 10:18 AM