Toyota - Camry :: Won't Start - Getting A Single Click Or Strange Electric Stutter / Gurgle
Mar 13, 2013
So my 1991 Toyota Camry won't start.
Symptoms: I get a single click and sometimes a very strange electric stutter/gurgle (think I should call in just the try it on air...). Dash lights come on, dome light too. Windshield wipers work, but slowly as do the automatic seat belts that come back and choke you when your not ready for them (also slower than they should be). No radio, no driver or rear power windows, but the passenger side works as does the sun roof. The battery looks pretty new and the connections are spotless and firm.
Priors: Had the battery run down once before about a month ago... Jumped it and all was well for a while. We don't drive it much, not even daily. Also has temporarily failed to start maybe 5 times in the past 8 months. In those instances I get the rapid clicking and the power in the car seems normal. After a couple of tries it starts right up. Not sure how old the starter is, but I doubt it's recent.
I've checked the boards and found some stuff (power drain, solenoid, starter, clutch switch or something), but the power windows thing is pretty weird....
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My camry suddenly won't start. when i turn the key it makes this single click but won't start. Battery seems to be good. bad starter?
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So my wife's 2007 Camry just got a new battery a week or two ago. The other day she goes into the garage to her car to find it dead, with no power to the locks (had to use key instead of FOB), no accessories, no dash lights and no dome light. When she tried to start the vehicle it gave her a single click, did not crank and did not start.
Initially I approached it from the perspective that maybe the alternator was not charging the battery, so I charged the battery with my portable charger. The battery charged fast and checked out okay.
I then used the key FOB to unlock the door. Adjusted the electric seat to better fit me. The dome light came on. I also checked to see the head lights came on. I turned the ignition to start and I got a single click. Tried it again and got no feedback. The dome light was no longer lit and no other accessories worked. All of the power seemingly drained following the attempt to start.
Now I am wondering if the starter is shorting out or if something more mysterious in the electrical system is malfunctioning in a way that I have never faced before...
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Strange things happened to my 1994 Camry.
1) Car would not start - no click, engine would not turn over. But I noticed some low voltage interior lights still on.
2) Jumped it. Started right up.
3) Took it on the road to charge the battery.
4) ABS light cycled on and off.
5) Felt like the timing was being cut back from 1500 to 1200 rpm. Could not go over 20 MPH.
6) Was able to drive it about 1/4 mile, but the car died while moving - fortunately coasted back into my garage.
7) Went out to jump again later, same symptoms. 8
8) An hour later, tried to start without a jump, and it started! No ABS warning light.
9) Replaced battery and checked ground. Battery was toast, alternator fine, ground ok.
No symptoms since, other that several dash lights no longer working. What happened? What was wrong? Is it fixed for good?
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My girlfriend has a 1997 Toyota Camry with a 6 cyl engine. Low mileage - only 66k miles. She has a very sporadic problem for about the past year. Yesterday it happened for the first time in two months. She tries to start the car and gets a click. She turns the key back and it starts the next time she turns the key. Yesterday, it failed to start twice before it turned over. She talked to her mechanic who said the best thing to do is to wait for it to fail completely because it would be so hard to track down such a sporadic problem - could be the switch, a flat spot on the starter, or a host of other issues.
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So when I try to start the F there is a single click heard. Battery is tested good and is only 6 months old.
Been trying to locate the starter. From what I believe is it in the V install Valley? Meaning the entire cover needs to come off?
How to find / get to the starter. I will continue to see if the connection of cables are good.
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Our Pilot has started having an intermittent problem where it won't turn over, just a single click when you turn the key. The rest of the electrical things work. We recently had all of the sparkplug cables replaced 'cause of rats chewing. We had it towed to the dealer; they kept it overnight but it started for them.
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My fiance was driving my 2001 Accent, 1.6 manual trans, when it suddenly died. Now when I try to start it, I only get a single click. I also tried popping the clutch and nothing.
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I bought a used 2008 Toyota Camry per-certified from a local Toyota dealer about 2 years ago. About a year and a half ago I got in the car to go to work one morning and it would not start. You turn the key and all the lights come on but nothing else happened. Took the battery to Auto Zone and they said the battery was OK so I had it towed to the dealership. Dealer called when he got it and said it cranked right up for them and it has not been an issue since.
Two days ago I get in the car to leave work and the same thing happens. You might hear the starter click when you turn the key but nothing else happened. The car was getting power from the battery but that was about it. I tried to jump the car off but still the same thing. I had the car towed to a local Goodyear shop and after looking at it the said it was a problem with the alternator, that needed to be replaced, which also killed a cell in the battery that needed to be replaced also. They said since they are replacing the alternator they might as well replace the belt also.
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2001 Saturn SL1, 143,000 miles; well maintained. For about a week, I had intermittent no crank/no start. Lights and radio worked. A single, audible click occurred when I turned the key. When I was able to start the car, it ran fine. I suspected a failing starter.
The next time I tried to start the car, however, it roared to life only to run like an asthmatic locomotive. It idled low, at about 500 rpm, and shook badly. When I stepped on the gas, the engine smoothed a bit and the headlights flickered. There was no CEL or battery light, except for one brief moment when I revved the engine to about 2000 rpm.
Now, when I try to start the car, it starts just fine, but runs for about 2 seconds before stalling out. I installed a new battery in September 2012 and I changed the plugs in early 2013 – both routine, preventative measures.
Any chance I flooded the engine while trying to start it, even though it's a fuel-injected engine? If so, how do I "unflood" it?
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I have a 2000 Buick Century and i just recently had the fuel pump replaced because it was totally shot. Everything was fine except i realized when i started it sometimes it would crank really slowly, i thought it was the battery because the one i had in there was like 4 years old. One day it just straight up wouldn't start in a Public parking lot so i bought a new battery and it still wouldn't start. Every time i try to start it, it makes one click then a weird electric swirling sound, but wont crank at all. My buddy who has a lot of experience with cars thinks its the starter. We tried banging on it but no luck. How to confirm if this is the starter?
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2003 Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder GT 5 speed... Wife's car, has 142000 on it, started out 6 months ago as a hard jerky motion, has since calmed down to a single stutter sometime within first 20 miles. It was overdue for 120000 mile tune up, had that done along with timing belt replacement, still does it. Check engine was on before taking to dealer, off when I picked it up, back on next day. It's sometimes almost not noticeable, other times it gets your attention. Seems like it has to be electrical to happen so quickly, then it's gone in a fraction of a second, like it just doesn't fire for a tenth of a second. Was going to try distributor next, but don't want to continue sinking money in it and not be confident that I'm going down the right road, especially after the expensive tune up.
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Just tried putting a ts6 on my pcm. First time I hooked it back up I just got cranking with no start. So I pulled the pcm terminals really well plugged it back in and got nothing. I do not remember because I was kind of in a hurry if I unplugged the batter cables and back on the second time. I plugged it back in after cleaning terminals and went to start and got nothing. A loud click on passenger wheel well and then all electric in truck completely dies. I hope I didn't fry my pcm. Maybe just blew a fuse or starter relay?
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Last year I had a bad accident and my front passenger side tire completely ripped off. State Farm fixed it and all was fine. But About 2 months ago I've been hearing this single click on the right front when I was turning right and on the left front when I was turning left. Took the car to different dealerships, one barely looked at it and tried to charge me $300 for jacking up the car and tightening 10 bolts, the other said that my axle is cracked and leaking and recommended replacing my strut mount and sway bar links. So after those were done I drove it home and on the way back I heard the same noise but somewhere underneath my seat a couple of times when I accelerate and decelerate. The dealer took my car away for a week and a half to figure this whole thing out with state farm and forced me to pay for part of the rental car.
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My click sound is inconsistent, but typically, it's when I make a hard right or left turn. This being said, there are times I've was making a slow turn and my car still made the click noise. The turn can be a small one while in the lane for the off ramp of the freeway or a sharper turn around the corner. My impression is that when there is more force towards one side of the car, my steering wheel shaft is clicking. I also notice there's a click sound when I turn into a dip like when I drive out of a driveway onto a street that's lower than the driveway. The sound is also typically paired with moderate braking and turning. Someone who was in the car and heard the click and mentioned that it might happen when I make a sudden turn.
The single click is coming from the exterior of my car (I can hear it clearly when my windows are down) and around the engine area. I don't physically feel anything when I hear the click but I'm afraid that something may become an issue in the future. The click is also slowly driving me insane!!!
I've already gone back to my dealership and I bought this car brand new. It started happening almost immediately after I bought the car. When I took it in, they said they tightened a bolt (didn't specify which).
I've asked so many individuals and they can't think of anything. It's definitely not a CV issue because the car is brand new and the sound is a single click rather than a continuous knocking.
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I posted a couple of weeks ago about my car making a single click instead of starting while turning the key. The dealer finally got the car in the other day and initially called to tell me that the positive cable was loose on the battery. Then called back a while later to say after trying the start the car after it was sitting for a while it again made the single click and didn't start. I never bought the battery cable story since I knew it couldn't be that loose, I checked. But instead they found the starter itself was the issue. I was thinking it may be a loose cable on the starter itself and was surprised to see the starter had burned out already. A new starter was ordered and will be installed on Tuesday. I am not sure who makes the starters for these cars but a 2012 starter should last years. In comparison, my 96 honda civic is still sporting the original starter after 17 years and a couple hundred thousand miles.
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My 2010 with 110k is now making a single yet audible "click" sound when I accelerate off of the line. It makes the same exact sound each time I press the brake pedal at speed. Just one click, not a continuous clicking. What's wrong??
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back story but may have nothing to do with problem. battery terminal bolts were rusted solid so i cut them off and replaced. truck stated fine the last time i started it before doing this.
I turn key and get a single click. i tried jumping 2 large poles on fender solenoid and still one click no crank. i had taken off the starter and autozone tested and it passed. i checked voltages everywhere i could think of and all were as to be expected.
could it be the starter even though it passed?
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So I drove my car about a mile to a friend's house and when I went to start it back up 10 minutes later, I got no start and no crank. Just a single loud relay click from the engine compartment. Tow truck tried jumping it and then thwacking the starter solenoid to try and get it going. No dice. Battery seems all good.
Had some interesting things go wrong the day before which may be related to it. First, I was tracking my MPG and fuel trim on a highway trip and the trim and fuel consumption data just stopped coming in. Speedo and RPM data was still coming down the OBDII but I just assumed that my reader took a ****. Later that night I noticed that the lights on my climate control (the manual kind) went out. Tapped on it and it came back on, but only briefly. The bulb looks shot.
No engine strangeness on the drive over or earlier in the day. I drive it most every day. Has 215,000 miles on it.
I'm guessing either a short or bad starter. FWIW, I've also been experiencing the typical starter whine after starting. Was meaning to take it off and grease it. Not sure that has anything to do with it. I also tried rotating the crankshaft to make sure the engine wasn't locked up and it does turn, albeit not incredibly easily. It does have oil on the dipstick.
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I have a 1998 Camry. My directional light and click correctly when I tun them on. When I GENTLY turn off the directional signal, I hear the relay continue to click, however the dash lights do not blink, nor do the outside lights. If I let the directional lever jump back into place, the problem does not occur. Is it the switch in the column, or the relay?
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A couple months back my avalon started refusing to start, lights would come on with the key, but when i turned it, nothing but a click. after a few tries it would eventually start and run, usually for the day without issue again. After a while it got worse, and I had the battery tested. It was dead. So i replaced it. The car would still click the first couple times but start more readily then it had previously. Fast forward 2 weeks. I go to start my car, it does its clicking thing, then nothing. The whole car just dies. no lights, no clock, nothing. I gave it a minute and it came back on with dimmed lights and the antitheft system (which goes off if the battery is disconnected) goes off.
since then, i have successfully started the car 2x, but after each shut off, the clicking and no start issue returns. The battery cables are free of corrosion and its a brand new battery. I have seen issues with the starters and alternators on these cars on forums before, however with mine intermittently working, its slightly different. at least to my limited mechanical knowledge.
I have seen starter rebuild kits for fairly cheap online and alternator replacement options that look to be fairly easy with the tools that i have access to.
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