I will be taking her to the car doctor this weekend, but I would like to have an idea what is wrong. She is a 2000 Camry with 200K miles and she doesn’t start easily. The battery doesn’t seem dead, the lights all work, and she doesn’t sound like a weak battery. When I try to start the first time nothing happens. The second time I hear a slight sound and it usually catches and starts. However, once in a while I have to turn the key several times and sometimes I get absolutely nothing (again, not the lights dimming or trying to start like I would expect with a dying battery but no sound at all) and sometimes it starts OK. What could be wrong, and is it going to cost me a fortune?
Besides a bad starter, a faulty neutral safety switch could cause this. It’s supposed to keep the car from starting when in gear, but it can go bad and keep the car from starting even in park or neutral. Sometimes slamming it into park will get it to work again. I hope that’s what it is, because I think that’s cheap to fix, plus it would make me look smart.
Well it could be a zillion things. A bit more background would help. Engine type? When was the last time you replaced the plugs, plug wires or timing belt?
[QUOTE=psychobunny;16868930The battery doesn’t seem dead, the lights all work, and she doesn’t sound like a weak battery. When I try to start the first time nothing happens. The second time I hear a slight sound and it usually catches and starts. However, once in a while I have to turn the key several times and sometimes I get absolutely nothing (again, not the lights dimming or trying to start like I would expect with a dying battery but no sound at all) and sometimes it starts OK. What could be wrong, and is it going to cost me a fortune?[/QUOTE]
Explain further please. Nothing happens? No crank? No click? Dash lights stay on?
How old is the battery?
Battery is as old as the car.
Exactly. Nada. Then I try again and it starts.
Is this slight sound a clicking noise?
5 years is a good run for a battery. Yours is 13.
The simplest solution would be the battery, so start there.
A battery in its death throes can do some weird things. Take the car by a big box auto retailer (Auto Zone, O’Reilly’s, etc.) and ask them to test the battery. Most offer this as a free service. If the battery needs replacing, most major retailers will install it for you at no additional cost.
13 YO battery! Replace it. Heck replace it before going to your car doctor as that might fix it and save you a trip. Many places like Auto Zone will replace the battery for you.
After that I’d be worried about the starter solenoid. On many cars the solenoid is part of the starter so you have to replace both at once.
Might be the ignition switch. Do you have about a pound and a half of stuff on your key-chain hanging off the ignition switch? I read recently that this is becoming more and more of an issue.
Could also be corroded battery cables and a lot of other things. However 13 YO battery is most likely the problem.
If the original battery is still in the car, you’ve been very, very lucky! 13 years for a car battery is like a person living to 115 years old. Highly unlikely, but it does happen. Go get yourself a new battery and all should be well.
Possibles:
[ol]
[li]Bad NSS (nuetral safety switch)[/li][li]Corrosion on battery connections[/li][li]failing battery cables[/li][li]bad battery[/li][li]dragging starter[/li][li]starter solenoid[/li][/ol]
Before paying a mechanic, I agree with the above posted advice to take it to a FLAPS (friendly local auto parts store) for a free diagnosis. Could be something as easy as corroded battery connections.
I find it difficult to believe a car battery lasted 13 years. I’m on my 3rd battery from a 13 year old car with 200,000 on it.
So, what did turn out to be?
Here is the situations so far. I have had at least one episode where I tried for 20 minutes to start it before it finally started. I took the car to be checked and I have a slip of paper that reads as follows:
Good Battery
Measured 720CCA
Rated 650 CCA
Battery meets or exceeds required standards
Starter test
Cranking normal
(bunch of graphs all normal)
Charging system output test normal
The car of course started immediately for the technician.
They want $110 to do a complete diagnostic test which may or may not reveal the problem.
From what I understand, in these newfangled cars, they just plug in their computer and the car tells them what is wrong. Apparently my car is saying “Don’t listen to the crazy lady! I’m fine I tell you-fine! There’s nothing wrong with me! I don’t need to go to the car doctor and I DON’T need any treatment.”
I hate to spend more money to get no answer. Any ideas?
auto parts stores will plug in to your car with diagnostic equipment for free.
I m having a real hard time believing that this is the test result for a 13 year old battery. If this is a 13 year old battery this test result ranks it up there with a 102 year old man wins the gold and setting a new World’s Record in the 100 meter dash at the next Olympics.
Not impossible, but not something I would bet money on.
Getting back to your problem, my first guess (not having the car here to play with) would be either a intermittent neutral safety switch, or a bad ignition switch, or a bad starter relay (assuming your car has one)
You can test the NSS yourself. The next time it won’t start, put your foot on the brake FIRMLY, hold the key in the start position and move the shifter from P to N and back. Does the car start to crank at some point? If so, the NSS is either maladjusted or has a dead spot.
Ignition switches (the electrical part, not the tumbler) can go bad and at times give a no start. No real good DIY tests I can think of, the good news is a switch usually isn’t much $
If the car has a starter relay, I would be tempted to either swap it with another relay, or just change it out. Relays can go bad intermittently and cause havoc.
Good luck
It is highly unlikely that the issue with the OP’s car is caused by something that will leave a Diagnostic Trouble Code that points right to the problem.
At best there might be a DTC that is the result of the problem, not the cause.
It is certainly possible that I got a new battery at some point in the past 13 years and simply forgot. But the one thing I know is when the battery is low. My last car has some electrical short that nobody could diagnose and it literally ate batteries like candy. For the twelve years I had the car it never once made it through a battery warrantee period before dying. The worst was when I left the lights on while my date ran into a convenience store to get a newspaper to check movie times and the car died in that 10 minute span. I know what a low or dead battery is and I know how to jumpstart a car and I always carry heavy duty cables. This is NOT a battery problem.
I’m beginning to think it may be the ignition. Granted, the shift has been a little off recently (slips a little in neutral) but I had already tried shifting from park to neutral and back and that made no difference.
As for running a diagnostic test, I think all of the obvious problems would have shown up in what they already did. I probably will get a second opinion at the last mechanic I went to. They’re usually pretty good, even though the last time they installed my window motor backwards. (I said usually pretty good, and besides they promised to fix it for free the next time I came in since I was too fed up to wait the last time and I don’t really use the rear windows that much and they do work as long as you remember that up means down and vice-versa)
I’ve had this happen on three of my cars with Japanese motors (Corolla, Camry, and Chrysler minivan) and in each case it was the starter. Acts like a bad battery, but it was really two contacts inside the starter solenoid that get eroded over time until the contact is iffy–so one time it’ll work fine, then another time you’ll turn the key and get nothing.
I was able to take apart the solenoid and replace the contacts, which I bought for some piddling amount from an auto electric shop, but if you’re not mechanically minded it’d be easier to have the starter replaced.