2000 Camry XLE - no power locks, no dash lights, no start

[MrToilet]

So I went out to my Camry for the 1st time in a week to run some errands, and I must have left an overhead light on, because my car has no power. No power doors, no dash lights, no door open alarm, and when I turned the key, there was no click or anything, obviously no starting.

So I just tried to jump it from a friend's car, and when we attached the cables, the lights turned on, door open alarm went off, when I tried to start it this time, the car cranked once, clicked, and tried to turn over, but then nothing. Waited a couple minutes, tried it again, this time it cranked a couple times, but still no start.

I think the battery is just dead...any other ideas?

[ghettosled]

check the connections on the battery. maybe they are loose and/or corroded. if the battery is completely drained, it might take a couple of minutes of the dead car and good car being connected to generate enough charge to turn the dead car on.

[ASG14]

^ I'd say the same. Clean the terminals, then leave try again.

[MrToilet]

Update:
SUCCESS!

I exchanged the battery at Costco, came back and installed the new one. Once I hooked up the new battery, the alarm went off, all the dash lights came on, and the power locks started working. The car started right up when I turned the key.

Woohoo! Thank God it was nothing more serious.

In other news, did I tell you how much I love Toyota? My last car ('99 Dodge Intrepid) all of a sudden wouldn't start about 4 years ago, and it ended up being a bad starter.... kind of says something about quality control! (And that car ended up having the oil sludge problem that was common in that year, so I ditched that car as fast as possible!)

My entire family (brothers, sisters, parents) buy nothing but Toyota, everyone's learned their lesson buying other brands! LOL

[Mike Gerber]

Glad you got the car started. Now that it is running, I would take it to one of the auto parts stores that check the charging system for free. Your battery may have gone dead for a reason, like not being properly recharged, or it may have just been time for a new battery. Better to play it safe. Call around to a few auto parts stores in your area and ask if they offer this free service, with the alternator still on the car.

Mike