2002 Camry Le 2.4 5spd manual. 165k mi.

Driving on highway, car dies.

Have it towed home. Car clicks rapidly when turning the key in the ignition (lights, radio, ect. all still work).

AAA comes to give me a jump. Tells me the alternator is bad, but battery is 'good' (they were wrong about the battery, and most likely the alternator as well).

Replace alternator. Rapid clicking stops. Still will not start.

Replace starter, battery, new positive terminal wires, thoroughly cleaned negative/ground. (Battery tested bad at Autozone, Starter also tested bad at auto zone, lots of corrosion on terminal wires, so cut back to clean copper and replaced both the line to starter and fusebox)

Still will not start, clicks 'once' when turning ignition.

Replaced starter relay (with OEM from Toyota dealership).

Still nothing.

Cant for the life of me figure it out.

Any ideas? Im wondering if the 'new' remanufactured starter I put in was bad out of the box? NO clue what to do next.

 

Get a voltmeter.

Drive car to charge battery. Stop engine and turn on headlights, etc. for 60 sec to load the battery. Turn off load and check battery voltage, should be 12.5v and 12.9v.

Run engine at 2000 rpm and check battery voltage as should be 13.2v and 14.8v.

Get a wire to jump between +12V battery terminal and starter relay and see what happens. If nothing get a jumper cable and jump between the starter motor terminal and +12V.

Has happened a battery cable can develop high ohm internal resistance which causes problems.

Check 5A AM1, 30A AM2 and 100A ALT fuses for signs of corrosion and other issues. Has happened a fuse link deteriorates.

The engine quitting is one thing while clicking when ign key to start is another as an electrical issue ahead of the starter.
What is making the clicking noise?

It is possible to have a bad starter or alternator out of the box but this tends to be limited to rebuilt parts. Toyota parts are first rate.

 

The car won't start, so I cant drive it.

It's also a brand new battery, which I have tried to jump incase it was already bad off the shelf.

The battery cables (both to the starter and to the fusebox) had a lot of corrosion on the 3-4 inches before the terminal, but I cut all of that off to clean copper, and spliced on new wires.

The alternator is new (ac delco) and the starter is a rebuilt Autozone thing (might also be ac deco). I wanted to buy denso, but nowhere had anything NEW and I didn't want to wait a long time for parts to arrive.

So, New battery, new battery wires to positive terminal, cleaned ground/negative wire to shiny copper), new starter, new alternator, new starter relay.

The battery WAS bad, so was the battery cable, the old starter relay looked like it was also burnt out.

 

The car now turns over by does not start?

 

No, it does not turn over and it does not start. I turn the key and there is a single click.

 

Need to know what electrical items work and what does not. The wiring splits off from the battery cable into circuits which have fuses. A main fuse and smaller fuses for various circuits. A fuse(s) could have blown.

When the ign key is turned on do the dash icons come on? Icons as is warming normal lights, etc that would normally come on before turning the key to start.

Try the suggestions listed in my first post. There is no sense looking at say the starter if jumping the starter it makes it work.

 

I appreciate your help but youre not reading anything im writing.

I tested the starter, it was bad. I replaced it.

Thanks anyways man.

 

Have you tried manually turning the engine with a socket on the crankshaft pulley?
Do you have a scanner that shows freeze frame data?

 

I have a mechanic coming by to try to figure it out...

Hes done a lot of work on both of my Toyotas (stuff thats outside of my wheelhouse).

he said hes gonna try to crank it manually, and that its either a fuse/electrical gremlin im missing, or that the Autozone starter that I put on was bad out of the box.

I'll come back and write up what the issue was, if hes able to figure it out. LOL.

 

Thanks for the quick reply. I hope your mechanic can figure it out. Good luck!