1993 camry won't hot start in winter
 

Hi everyone!

My wife has a 1993 toyota camry le 4 cylinder. It started having difficulty with hot starts in cold weather about one year ago. The car will start fine when the engine is cold even in freezing weather. However, if the car is started and driven only a short distance in cold weather and then turned off, it won't start again. Letting the car sit for 5-10 minutes will typically resolve the problem. The lights and electrical components work fine, but my wife says that when she turns the key it doesn't make any noise--no clicking at all.

The car has been to several mechanics and they haven't been able to reproduce the problem. We're not sure if the last mechanic in winter 2009 tried to pull any codes off the obd when it was in the shop (although I would assume he did check this and didn't find anything). It has about 148,000 miles on it and had the plugs and wires replaced 20,000 miles ago. It also has a relatively new battery. I don't suspect it's the starter if this only happens in cold weather. Any ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks!
Craig

My first thought was the coolant sensor unroll you said no clicking at all it could be a faulty ignition switch you could try jiggling key next time it won't start. Or if the starter is accesible bring something you can lightly tap it with next time while your wife holds the key in the crank position

Thanks for the response. We did some searches online and found that it may in fact be the ignition cylinder. My wife says that--on rare occasion--if the wheel is turned sharply one way or the other when parked, she can't even get the key to the accessory position. Does it sound like these problems may all be related to the cylinder itself?

sometimes the cylinder just does that when its turned all the way. If its a no start problem i would say the ignition switch is acting up.

I called a toyota dealer yesterday and explained the problem. Their first response is that the starter contacts are probably bad and need to be replaced. Is this something that could be done at home, or do I need to take it in and have it replaced?

It all depends how comforatable you are working on cars. If you can get the starter out yes they are easy to do