nsghtbrwry

Hey guys, I have a '99 ES300. I just did a bunch of work on it, culminating in a new radiator and A/C condenser yesterday. Started it up for the first time in weeks last night with a fresh alternator and battery, and took it for a test drive. Apart from the alignment, everything else was peachy.

This morning, I tried to start it, and it was behaving very weirdly.

1. The "door open" light was flickering and getting fainter
2. With the door open, I stuck in the key, and the chime started for a half second, then stopped abruptly. When it stopped, the dash went dead. Turning it to ON, I could see the dash lights lit up, but extremely faintly...and it didn't look like it was running the light test (none went off).
3. I tested the battery, and it was good. Swapped in two known good batteries, same thing. Also cleaned all grounds, no change.
4. I waited a while, then went back out and tried again: KOEO, everything was behaving normally...chiming with door open, dash light test finished. As soon as I tried to start the car, I heard a loud click from what I assume is the starter relay, and everything went dead again. Same thing from this point on: see #2.

I checked all the fuses and relays, everything is in working order. Any ideas?

Thanks as usual.

tomf

I'd check the starter or wiring to the starter possibly corroded.

WILLYumD

Check your battery ground cable as well. Good luck, electrical issues are always a pain.

nsghtbrwry

Thanks guys, I'm going to do a loaded voltage drop test on the positive side to the starter and the ground side tomorrow. Will report back

nsghtbrwry

Well, got lucky on a whim. My positive terminal looked OK, and I used a terminal brush to clean the inside and the battery post before.

However...the two cables clamped to it with a wingnut were only OK on the surface. The big one goes to the starter, and the smaller one supplies +12 to the main fuse box. I checked the resistance between the battery post and those.

starter cable: 0.1 ohms. Acceptable.
+12 to fuse box: 0.9 megaohms. LOL

Took it apart and cleaned both of them well with a brass cup brush on a drill, then put it back together.

New readings:

starter cable: 0.05 ohms.
+12 to fuse box: 0.03 ohms.

Car started like it should have.

Thanks for your help, guys.

WILLYumD

Nice! Thanks for coming back to post what worked.

Mattlong71

Having the same issue as above. Have cleaned my battery post which ia a new battery. Wires are in great shape no. Corrosion. Same click with stater relay but nothimg happens. Ive bumped the starter with a hard object still nothing. What could this be. Car was running excellent amd just stopped cranking.