Hi

My wife has a 97 Camry -- approx. 95K miles, V-4 engine. About 4 months ago, she was having a problem starting her car. She would turn the key and nothing would happen. No sound -- nothing. The second time she would try and it would it would start right up. We took it to our mechanic and he replaced the starter and the battery. However, we still had the same problem. Took it back, the mechanic said he couldn't find anything wrong with it.

Fast-forward 4 months -- We've had other issues going on and haven't really had time to deal with it, plus we figured since it would always start on the second try, we had a "grace period" before we really needed to take care of it.

Now---it takes four or five turns of the key before it will start. Any ideas where I could look for the problem? Again, we have a new starter and a new battery.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

Robertgb

 

Refer to the diagram at the link below.

http://www.samarins.com/glossary/starter.html

The starter motor receives battery power from the starter solenoid. The solenoid is bolted to the starter motor and contains a heavy duty electrical relay.

The starter solenoid is turned on by the starter relay (a much smaller relay) that is turned on by the ign key.

If nothing happens when the ign key is turned to start:

Power is not flowing from the battery to the starter solenoid via the Postive Battery Cable. This issue could be corroded or damaged battery terminals.

The same is true for the Negative Battery Cable.

There is also a negative ground cable that goes from the chassis to the engine.

The starter solenoid could be difective. The contacts in the solenoid can become damaged from electrical arcing. Assume when you replaced the starter the solenoid was also replaced.

The Starter Control Circuit wire, Starter Relay, ign switch or their wiring/fuse could have a problem.

Check the battery positive and negative terminals including the negative cable and location where it is grounded to the chassis.

If you have a volt meter when the ign key is turned to start if power is getting to the starter solenoid and coming out of the starter solenoid. Power is at the terminal on the starter solenoid where the Starter Control Circuit wire attaches.

This wire is a much smaller diameter then the one coming from the battery or going from the starter solenoid to the starter motor.

 

Thanks Joey. I would think the mechanic checked the solenoid when we took it back to him. We'll follow up with him based on your response. Thanks again!