My wife's '02 Camry XLE would not start today while we were at Best Buy. I crossed my fingers and tried as much as I could to twist the battery terminals around in case there was a corrosion issue, and, luckily, it started and we were able to drive home. Thinking I found the issue I got out the wire brush and cleaned all the terminals/connections, but didn't find any notable corrosion. The battery was replaced about 1 year ago. After the cleaning it would not start at all. I'm thinking the Best Buy start was a fluke.

It's kind of a strange 'won't start' problem to allow me to explain exactly what happens:
1.) Turning the key to the 'On' position allows you to run all of the accessories, including the radio and Hi/Low beams with no dimming.
2.) Turning the key further to the 'Start' position produces a single 'click' and everything appears to die. No radio. No lights. No dash indicators.
3.) If I disconnect the battery and reconnect the same cycle will repeat itself. Also, if a certain amount of time passes it appears to 'reset' itself without disconnecting the battery and you can start from step 1 again.

Honestly, I'm not sure what is between the battery and the starter, or what could cause the flow of electricity to stop. The fact that it seems to blow a (non-physical?) fuse is also something I've never seen before. Is there anything in the starter or solenoid that would cause symptoms like this? Is there any way I could bypass the issue in order to start it 'manually' and drive to the stealership?

In a bind so any help is much appreciated. Thanks in advance.
-Arthur

 

If the "engine" just clicks without turning over check the following:

Battery cables, battery end terminals, battery ground connection, ground cable between engine block and chassis.

Starter solenoid contacts.

Starter solenoid relay.

The positive battery cable runs to the starter solenoid "switch" located on the starter motor. When the ign key is engaged the solenoid electrical contacts close and power flows from the battery cable through the solenoid contacts to the starter motor.

The grounds for the starter is the block and a wire going from the engine to the chassis. The battery is grounded to the chassis.

Typically between the ign key switch and starter solenoid is small relay. The ign key closes this small relay, the relay then engages the starter solenoid.

A Google search will turn up a typical wiring diagram for starter circuit.

Follow the positive battery cable to the starter solenoid (attached to starter motor). You will see a large nut connecting the cable terminal to the starter solenoid. Below this nut is another large nut screwed onto a terminal, this is the electrical output from the solenoid.

When the ign switch is turned to "start" power should flow from the upper terminal to the lower terminal.

If you have jumper cables you can try connecting one end to the Positive battery terminal and the other to the upper terminal on the solenoid. Then try starting the car. If the engine turns over the cable or connection between the battery and starter solenoid is bad.

You can bypass the solenoid by connecting (touching) the jumper cable to the lower nut terminal. This will engage the starter motor.

Also check the negative battery and ground cables. You can connect one end of a battery cable to the negative battery terminal and the other to the a solid unpainted point on the engine block such as a bracket, etc.

When testing remember the positive battery cable has high amperage thus don't ground the cable by mistake, touch it to other electrical devices, fuel lines, etc.

The small wire running to the starter solenoid area comes from the small relay intern going to the ign switch.

Typically the issue is corroded battery terminals, corroded end fitting terminal connection to the cable, bad solenoid contacts.

 

Battery terminals aren't that dirty, but I cleaned the neg. terminal anyway.

Mine is std shift, so we tried to kick start it a couple times with no luck. Then tried turning the key once more, and it fired.

But the weird thing is dash lights were dim or missing.
I think after one loud click, dash lights were gone.
No previous signs of starting problems. Winter time, we just went thru 10 days of subfreezing temps. But today was in the 40s.

Battery voltage around 13V. Did not measure under load. Battery is 4 yrs old.

I'm wondering about the ign switch the key goes into.

Let me know what yours turns out to be.