Hello everyone. My name is Mike and I love my Camry. She's a '97 with 110,000 miles, 4-cyl standard. Last night she crapped out on me; was fine when I parked it but when I got back in nothing electrical would work. Boosting it did not work so it doesn't look like it's the batter. We pushed it and I popped the clutch so it started but the engine ran extremely rough. I managed to drive it almost home; the speedo was going crazy, the radio didn't work and when I tried opening a window (power), the engine died. I'm having it towed and taken to my mechanic. Does anyone know what the problem might be? I'll let you know what the mechanic says about it. Thanks and I hope to stick around.

 

If nothng electrical works the issue is battery, battery cables or connections, ground connections, some kind of alt problem draining the system.

All the electrical equipment and engine operational problems could be due to lack of electrical power.

 

Alternator is my guess. When you last ran it the alternator had a weaker than normal output. The ignition was running mostly off of the battery and ran it down. After a jump you are running on a battery that has rebounded somewhat. It probably would have died shortly even if you had not touched the power window. OR, Battery could be shorted internally and putting a huge load on the alternator. Please post mechanics findings but I bet it will be one of the two and probably the first. Good luck.

 

Well, it turned out to be corroded connections on the electrical circuit. The mechanic cleaned it all, charged the battery and she's purring again. Thanks for all your input.

 

Glad you got it fixed. I did not really think about the connections (I guess battery) but that will keep the batt from charging properly and cause similar symptoms as a weak or bad alternator. I will file that for future reference. Thanks for posting the solution and spread a little lithium grease on the battery terminals to prevent the corrosion in the future.

 

The mechanic already greased it up nicely. It's really hard to get a good honest mechanic, but mine seems to be great.