2000 Camry Fusible Link

[smithlew]

Thought I would pass on some info that I had to find out the hard way. 2 weeks ago I replaced the timing belt, water pump etc, on my Camry. It had broken while driving to work. At the end of the job I discovered that a lot of the foam gasket that goes on the timing covers was pretty much gone. Since it was about 11pm on a Sunday when I finished I went ahead and put it back on sans new gasket. Result was a rattle/vibration around 2000 rpm. BTW, the timing cover gasket kit that autozone sells does not actually include that gasket.

So, today I took it off again and used some Red Permatex rtv. I know that rattle is from the lack of gasket as the vibration was gone when I started the car without it on to test my theory that that was the problem. I unfortunately forgot to take the cable off the neg terminal of the battery and when I removed the Alternator wire, it touched the braket and resulted in a blown ALT fusible link.

The terminals coming out of the fusible link are solid all the way down with a hole in each one. The only way to get the link out is too pull the small block that it is located in out to remove the 2 screws that hold it in place. To gain access too it, you need to pull the bigger block out first that is next to it. Once you release the tabs holding the smaller block into the bigger fuse block case you can then pull it up and remove the screws that hold the fusible link in place.

The replacement fusible link terminals are open on the bottom so if you ever blow it again you should just be able to pull it out easily.

I was able to replace my timing belt etc with a lot of info that I found here on TN so I thought I would pass it forward and maybe save someone else some aggravation if they have a blown fusible link.