Hi All!

Was replacing the car battery and didn't pay enough attention. The car alarm was going off. Disconnected and reconnected correctly. Now the car won't start. Headlights work and some other various lights, but the dashboard won't light up and the car won't start. Couldn't check the fuses yet as the door is a bit blocked by neighbours car. What fuses to check and what could be worst case scenario?

 

The last time I saw that happen was on an S14, but it required a vehicle electrician to trace and replace a lot of wiring and fuses... I'm not sure how much it ended up costing the individual, but speaking with the electrician it wasn't going to be cheap. Hopefully, the damage to your system won't be that severe.

 

How the heck do you put in a battery backwards... My cables wouldnt even be able to reach the post if it was backwards

Were you high? By looking at your username, you must have been trippin

 

Well... I've put in so the cables would be exactly as they were before (on the downside of the car battery). Turned out the + and - on the battery I've bought were the other way around

 

You can buy a battery with the post on the opposite side. I nearly made that mistake before I noticed.

 

I did this years ago on an Ek civic (my 2nd car). Like others mentioned above, the new battery i bought had the writing facing the opposite way Anyway the main relay blew, from what I understand it's kind of like a huge fuse. Got another one for $2 at the junkyard and plugged it in and everything worked fine.

Ffwd to last year on the GS, I was boosting it back to life after it sat parked all winter. We hooked it up properly but for some reason there was a spark and a bit of smoke. Turned out the main relay was blown again. (still not sure why this occurred)

I just grabbed a relay out of some Toyota, I think it was a Camry. The LS400, camry, and some other toyotas all use the same relay as the 2GS, so it should be very easy to find. It's a beige opaque plastic thingy, it's labelled on the fuse box lid as MAIN or something. Located in the engine bay.

Oh yeah, I called Lexus and they wanted a few hundred $ and wait 3-4 business days. Lmao. So i grabbed multiple relays at the wreckers just in case. Just bring the old one with you so you can compare

 

How would I know if it's blown?

 

The first fuse that blow is the Alternator fuse 120. It is screwed so you need to get out the fuse box (or a part of it) out.

I made the same mistake this week. By a redneck matter i have been able to start the car. But i had a lot of warning lights lit on. ABS, ETCS, VSC and check engine.

After a couple of verifications, i replaced a couple of fuses and i have been able to remove all the lights and CEL. But now i have no Radio, no dome light, Door lock and no clock.

It seems like there's another fuse box on the passenger side and the Dome fuse may be blown. Many people solved their problem with that fuse in particular.

Make sure you check that everything is fine. If there's some stuff that still don't work and you think that the fuse are ok. Replace them anyway to make sure they are really ok.

 

I just kind of guessed due to my civic experience. I don't think you can visually check the GS main relay due to it being opaque plastic. The good news is they're super cheap at the wreckers so just keep replacing them like the above guy said

 

Well OP i wish you best of luck, i would get a fuse tester and start there. I wonder if its not starting due to the starter being fried. But im sure u just have some blown fuses

 

I did this with my gs when I first got it... blew almost every fuse in the car!!!

 

Let this be a warning to all Generation 2 GS owners, maybe some others as well.

The battery in this size is made in two versions, each with the opposing terminal polarities. The non-GS version is more popular so its easy to see how a disaster, mabe even a fire can result.

I replaced my battery a few months ago. E-Bay UK is full of ads showing the other battery as being compatable with a Generation 2 GS - even sellers of Bosch batteries get it wrong.

Nightrave -worst-case senario? You may have blown the ECU and Cambus controllers.

 

So it looks like multiple fuses are blown.
1. main 120Amp,
2. etcs fuse
3. am2 fuse
4. Radio no1 fuse
5. Dome 10a fuse
6. IGN fuse

So I still have hope that exchanging those might bring my beauty back.

 

My friend just got a new battery and it had the post backwards. The car starts but will not shift into gear. He also has lights but not much else. Any tips on what would stop the car from shifting gears?

 

Check inside the car on the driver side kick panel, everybody here they call it kick panel, that fuse box that have a 15 amp fuse Cigarette. Check that fuse, I'm close the 100% that's blowout. Good luck with that.