95 Toyota Camry, for which I just put in a new battery, not using any power as if the battery was...

LarryMason · 24 Jun 2010, 08:26 pm

...dead, why? I connected the battery correctly, positive and negative. I thought I needed a new battery, so I replaced my old one, but the car will not power on or start. Nothing electric works. I was told that my main relay (next to the battery) is blown. Should I check out anything else or should I just get a new main relay? I wanted to make sure because I don't want to spend $80 on a new main relay like I spent $90 on a new battery and still not fix the problem.

By loosening and tightening the negative terminal on the battery, everything electric worked until I turned the key in the ignition, then the same thing happened and nothing electric worked. I can get it to do this, but I am not progressing in starting my car. Do I need a whole new negative cable or only the top part which goes around the terminal? Or is it something else?

Thanks in advance.

Kayla E · 24 Jun 2010, 08:29 pm

This sounds like the same thing that happened to my husbands car (which isn't a Toyota).

It turned out to be the alternator. I work at a Toyota dealership, and asked a technician about the problem. He said, that if the alternator is out, and you put a new battery in it, that the alternator will drain the battery.

A re-built alternator is relatively cheap, and installing it is just a matter of unscrewing some bolts.

Hope this helped!

don r · 24 Jun 2010, 08:31 pm

That relay will probably cost half what you fear and you can plug it in. Find and check the fusable link. They look so nondescript you can look right at it and not realize what it is- a pigtail section of wire on the positive battery terminal- and when they go bad, nothing electrical works.

95 Toyota Camry, for which I just put in a new battery, not using any power as if the battery was...

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