My 97 Camry LE, now with 278k miles was our 3rd car until my wife’s car died 3 years ago and she took my car. The camry still runs great but over the past 2 years I would occasionally have trouble starting it. I would turn the key and hear one click and nothing happens. This usually happens every 4-6 weeks or so and only for 3 or 4 days the back to normal, and I never took it to my mechanic because until today it was always easy to get it started. I would only need to pop the hood, jiggle the red battery cable which would set off the alarm, then press a button on the remote to kill the alarm and it would start right up… sometimes it takes 2 or 3 tries.

Today this happened again but I could never get it started. After several tries I heard a buzzing noise coming from the fuse box, and a red indicator light on a button next to the steering wheel started blinking. I removed the fuse box cover and unplugged each large fuse one by one and none looked bad. The buzzing noise continued so to keep from draining the battery I decided to remove the positive cable from the battery terminal. As I unscrewed the bolt on the positive cable I heard 3 quick beeps from the alarm then a click…I knew that sound and as I feared, that click was the car doors locking. Luckily my keys weren’t inside the car, but I had a new ignition switch installed several years ago, so the ignition key doesn’t unlock the doors and the remote is locked inside the car. Now I have 2 problems.

I am sincerely grateful for any helpful advice/suggestions on solving either (or both) of these problems.

 

Welcome to the site.I think you are at the right place.you'll get lots of info from here.

 

Open the drivers door with the key, this should reset the alarm.

Jiggling the battery cable appears to be resulting in the electrical power being disrupted, this set off the alarm.

The clicking sound when starting the engine and ability to start the car when jiggling the cable would indicate a bad connection between the battery and cable, or a bad connection between the battery cable terminal and cable.

Take the cable off and inspect it for corrosion or other damage. Clean the battery and cable terminals.

 

Thanks. I'll try it...