battery shorted electrical system

My battery was not clamped in tight in my 1998 3.4 L taco and it turned over on its side and the I suspect the positive terminal touched metal while I was driving. It quit accelerating all of the sudden and the RPMs gauge was erratic . I got out and found the battery on its side with a burn on the positive clamp area . Now it will not start at all. Had it towed to my house and now trying to figure out what is blown and how serious it is . Looking for a good stepwise approach before having to take it in . So far I have read to to make sure the battery is still good and leave it disconnected and go through all of the fuses. Is there a main fuse that gets blown that I should check first on the 1st gen tacos?
Thanks
Phil

 

Do any of the electrical functions work? What happens when you turn the key to ON, then to Start?

This will help understand if you have a main fuse blown between the battery and the engine room main fuse box, or just a starting circuit issue.

If nothing works, just a guess would be main fuse. Probably one of these high amp fuses that are in the engine room main fuse box, right behind the battery.

 

just a buzz hum sound when turned on

 

Yeah you may want to check the big 3 highlighted. If the 1st gens are anything like the Camrys then AM1 and maybe even AM2 fuses will be buried deep in the dash and an absolute nightmare to get to. If all of the highlighted fuses fare out okay, then suspect you fried your PCM, but don't cross that bridge until you have eliminated your first possibilities. Best of luck in your endeavors.

 

Check all your main grounds as well, you could have fried a ground wire somewhere since the battery shorted to ground.

 

well I replaced the alternator and it fixed the issue. I suspect it was fried due to the battery issue and may not have had a fuse protecting it, as I do not expect just a bad alternator would present with sudden power failure like that

 

Replaced the alternator? What diagnostics/signs pointed to that? If the wiring wasn't changed there should be fuses between the battery and alternator.

Glad you're back up and running

Edit: Here's a page of the Overall wiring diagram that shows the Alternator(Generator) circuit

 

Seems odd. I would think your truck would still start (or at least crank over) even with a bad alternator, assuming the battery was charged.

 

I do not understand it either . My son is the one dealing with this out of town actually. He took the battery to autozone and replaced it and the altenator and he says it is running fine and everything seems to be working . I will have to get the specifics. He secured the battery. Could it happen again with what he did and something still be wrong? With everything working it does not seem he would have blown a fuse.??? I will find out some specifics and if he even tested the altenator. if he did blow a fuse to the altenator then I suspect the battery will become uncharged again.

 

Yea 2nd/3rd hand info is hard to work with, there's always something lost or changed a little bit. Just seems fishy that now replacing the Battery and Alternator fixed the issue. Hope all is sorted out and it doesn't leave him on the side of the road.

 

When the positive battery lead grounded the alternator diode cooked.
This can drain a battery in very little time causing intense battery heat that can kill 2 volt cell(s).
Batteries can and DO explode in circumstances like this.

 

that makes the most sense to me .
I will have him monitor for his battery for becoming uncharged
thanks

 

Yeah, there's a dash cluster light for that, either ALT or battery icon.
Make sure all cluster lights are lighted with ignition ON before starting engine.
If the ALT or battery light is on while engine is running the ALT charge is low.

 

Glad it's fixed. make sure he has the battery properly secured. If it happens again, he might not be so lucky.

 

I had a similar tonight. I was driving my 2002 and all of a sudden my radio started turning on and off, the power to my locks on my doors started going on and off, then had a loss of power at the same time truck died while smoke pour out my hood with a burning smell.I restarted it to get around the corner home. Anyone else have this happen? It has 305k on it and I’ve never had this before. I popped open the hood to find the ground wire that goes to the firewall was burned. Then I noticed that the bolt that holds my battery in place was gone and the battery was loose. So it’s possible it touched something. Now what should I do?