so my sister has a 99 4runner 2wd and was driving down the road and the runner just quit. she said it sputtered a little bit then as she was coming down a small hit the engine died. she says she thought she saw the abs light or maybe the battery light come on but cant remember. once she came to a stop she went to restart it and she had no power. she has no dash lights or buzzers or anything. i checked the fuses under the hood and all looked to be intact. i tried to jump start it with my truck and as soon as i hooked the cables up to my truck and then to hers they sparked like the 4th of july. i checked to make sure i didnt cross polarity and it was correct. so then i grab eda spare battery that she had for the camping trailer and hook it up and it does the same thing. as soon as the - cable tuched the - terminal it tried to weld it self. anyone know what is going on here? also how do you shift it out of park when you go no power?

 

hmm sounds like the alternator gave up

 

What does it do when you try to start it? (do any lights/stereo turn on, absolutely no lights, etc.)
Do you have a voltmeter/ohmeter? if so check the voltage at the battery.
I would start by checking the major wires for a short (i.e. starter cable and alternator cable)
A more crude way to find a short like this is to measure the resistance between the two battery terminals (without the battery installed) and wiggle wires till the resistance changes - thats where your short is

 

I didn't think about that. Where did the majority of the sparks come from?

 

Positive battery cable grounded...yikes !!!!!!!!

 

well she had it towed to a shop yesterday and they found the problem after a little searching. the starter had somehow shorted out and when it did this the power was directly grounded and it got so hot that it burned a hole in the side of it. i wish she would have gotten pictures. they replaced the starter and all is well now.

 

there should be a clear plastic clip at the top left or right of the shifter. just hold it down, and you should be able to shift freely.