1998 Camry Starting Problem

[dale willemstyn]

My 1998 Camry (120,000 miles - original owner) has a starting problem when cold. When the ignition is turned on, the lights, panel, door locks all come on, but there is no starter turn-over. When I turn the key back to off, and then re-turn to on, the car starts immediately with no hesitation. I cleaned off the small amount of corrison on the positive battery terminal. I believe the battery is fine, it is a two year old DieHard Gold (which Sears will replace at no cost with 36 months on it).

Any thoughts? Thanks !!!

[Brian R.]

Good chance it's only your solenoid contacts. Cheap fix.

http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbul...d.php?t=166530

http://www.off-road.com/toyota/tech/starter/

[ephandra]

I have a 1999 Camry with about 75000 miles on it and couldnt start it the other day. I would turn the ignition on and I would get all the lights to come on, but as soon as I would turn the key it acted like it was a dead battery (that I replaced 4 months) ago, so I knew something was up. I took the battery to Advanced Auto Parts and had it tested and it was good so I asked the tech and he said it sounds like the starter. I asked him how much a starter would cost and for a starter for my car that had the cold climate package would be almost $225!!! Needless to say I didn't want to pay that much for a starter, especially this close to Christmas, so I came home and did some research, and found another person who had the same problem here at AF, and also the thread with pics of the problem, so I ended up paying $40 dollars at the Toyota dealership to buy the contacts. SO I would like to give a huge thanks to you guys for saving me a $160 and a lot of frustration.
Lesson Learned - research your problem before you go and spend more money than you have to.

[dale willemstyn]

Thank you, everyone, for your replies regarding the solonoid contacts. Someone else outside of this website told me to check if all my door locks were actually locking when I turned my key on. I was told that a malfunctioning door lock slide could prevent the ignition to start the car. I was going to start checking for this, but the starting problem mysteriosly disappeared after having this problem for a full week. It has now been five days with 30 to 40 starts and no problem.

Go figure.

[Brian R.]

If it's the contacts, it will be back