93 Camry didnt start, yet battery, alt. and starter test fine?

[Ahobby]

Hello everyone,

I have owned a 93 camry for a little over a year now with absolutely no problems. My issues is as follows:

This past weekend, I drove my car to work on friday, and even used it friday night. I had no issues with the car starting/acceleration/signs of doom.

Monday morning - yesterday: I go to start the car up in the morning to go to work, and it sluggishly turns over a few times, without starting. I wait a few seconds and try again, but this time the starter wont even turn over. I got my girlfriend to give me a jump, and drive to work fine. At this point, I am under the impression that either the battery, or alternator is bad.

However, monday night, after work, I go to start the car up (expecting it to be dead), and it starts up beautifully, as it has every other time I've turned the key. I drive home, take it to autozone, and have them test the battery, starter, and alternator with the little "on-the-car" system they use there (guy put two jumper plugs on the battery and had me run the car/turn the high-beams on and then off /etc). The guy said all three check out fine, and the battery is actually in great condition.

The *only* thing I can point to as a cause (as I'm wondering if this even has anything to do with it) is that on Sunday, I changed both rear-brake bulbs. Could I have somehow managed to short out the car by doing this? I didn't see any exposed wiring, I was not forceful in removing the bulb assembly, i.e. no ham-fisted actions on my part...

I drove to work this morning (BTW my commute is about 25 minutes on a mixture of highway and local roads), absolutely fine, no issues.

I read about the starter issues in the forum here (at the top where it says "read this first") but that sounds like it would only be the noise of the starter solenoid pinging, but my car definitely was tryign to start. Has anybody had a similar experience and if so, did you find a cause?

At this point I'm wondering if this was some completely random fluke.

Thanks,
Andrew

[Airjer_]

How long did it take you to change the bulobs. Did you have the doors/trunk lid open for a long time. Did you have the lights turned on for a long time. Maybe you just drained the battery while you where doing your repairs and there is nothing to worry about.

The fact that it started eith a jump and stayed running pretty much eliminates the alternator and the starter which leaves the battery or connections at the battery.

I just had a caravan in the other night that the customer put his own battery in. He had to jump it every time he wanted to start it. Turns out he applied an excessive amount of di-electric grease to the posts before he put the cable ends on and in caused basically an open circuit. Cleaned off all the grease and he was good to go.

[Ahobby]

Oh wow.. you know, come to think of it, the keys may have been in the ignition and the trunk was open (Also, I leave my lights on even druing the day so they would have been on as well). But I didnt have the trunk open for more than 10 minutes. Would that have really been enough to drain the battery?

Thanks for the help

-Andrew

[Brian R.]

I vote for random fluke....

[Mike Gerber]

Check the connections at the battery and the starter. The connections at the battery could have been loose or corroded and when you jumped the car, the force of the cable clamps could have caused the connection at the battery to make contact again. Look for loose or corroded connections. If anything is loose, tighten it. If they are corroded, (especially at the battery side) clean both the battery posts and the terminal ends and then reinstall them. You can get a little batttery post/terminal cleaning tool for only a few dollars at most auto parts store.

Mike

[jdmccright]

You might check the age of the battery to see if it might be getting old, but sounds to me you just let it run down while changing the bulbs. There is usually a date code stamped or on a sticker to show when it was manufactured. Even better if the previous owner slipped the purchase receipt into a clear plastic sleeve attached to the side of the battery for warranty purposes.

The only other thought would be a dead spot is developing on the starter, but that usually results in just a click sound and no turning over at all...not what you described.

[Ahobby]

UPDATE:

The car has run fine since. I think it was just me letting the battery wear down while I was changing the lights...