97 Camry won't start

[hwatson1]

My 97 Camry LE, now with 278k miles was our 3rd car until my wife’s car died 3 years ago and she took my car. The camry still runs great but over the past 2 years I would occasionally have trouble starting it. I would turn the key and hear one click and nothing happens. This usually happens every 4-6 weeks or so and only for 3 or 4 days the back to normal, and I never took it to my mechanic because until today it was always easy to get it started. I would only need to pop the hood, jiggle the red battery cable which would set off the alarm, then press a button on the remote to kill the alarm and it would start right up… sometimes it takes 2 or 3 tries.

Today this happened again but I could never get it started. After several tries I heard a buzzing noise coming from the fuse box, and a red indicator light on a button next to the steering wheel started blinking. I removed the fuse box cover and unplugged each large fuse one by one and none looked bad. The buzzing noise continued so to keep from draining the battery I decided to remove the positive cable from the battery terminal. As I unscrewed the bolt on the positive cable I heard 3 quick beeps from the alarm then a click…I knew that sound and as I feared, that click was the car doors locking. Luckily my keys weren’t inside the car, but I had a new ignition switch installed several years ago, so the ignition key doesn’t unlock the doors and the remote is locked inside the car. Now I have 2 problems.

I am sincerely grateful for any helpful advice/suggestions on solving either (or both) of these problems.

[bronzemaxell]

my camry used to have the 1 click symptom
I thought it was the battery dying or post need cleaning or battery cable loose
but it turn out to be a starter solenoid failing.

it would be like 1 click, nothing happen, the dash not even dim like it normally would
initially trying a few more times, and it would start, one the engine is running, the car drives fine.
but then it gets worst and worst gradually.

once i replaced the whole starter from recycle yard, then everything working fine again
i was told normally the starter solenoid go bad, and there is a get well kit from stealership to rebuild it as well.

[bronzemaxell]

oh, i went back and re-read your post again
maybe you have an alarm issue
alarm can hookup to a kill switch that has the ability to disable starter/starter relay, or fuel pump to prevent engine from starting
just make sure your alarm is disarmed before starting the engine.

[Yuko]

With 278k, is that the orginial starter? If so, it has done a good share of work for it's life. It might simply be failing. While a kill switch is possible, (dealt with that before) it usually isn't an intermittent problem over years.

There is a chance that the igintion is so worn that the contacts wouldn't touch when the key is turned over to start. Had to replace cylinder lock before because of that.