Reversed the battery terminals - What damage have I done?

Question

I inter-switched my battery wires, positive to negative. Now the car moves but does not accelerate, even with the pedal to the floor.

What damage have I done by reversing the battery terminals?

The car is a 2006 Toyota Land Cruiser V8.

Answer 1

It sounds as though you may have damaged your throttle position sensor. However, the first thing I would do is to reset all of the electrical systems in the vehicle.

The simplest way to do this and be sure it's done is to remove both battery clamps and attach them to each other (without the battery present in the circuit). This will drain any capacitors and reset all systems in the car. It's equivalent of switching your PC off and back on again.

You may find after this that everything starts working again. I don't know if your throttle position sensor has a calibration mode but doing this should force a recalibration of everything on the car.

I'd be quite surprised if the alternator has failed. If it has, it's likely to only be the control module which in most cases can be replaced separately to the entire alternator. I'd reasonably suggest that you may want to search out an Auto-Electrician (there is such a thing) rather than using a general Mechanic.