anesthesia

Hello, can anyone please tell me what it could be.
My 99 would not start, when I put key in and try to start nothing happen, won't crank or even turn over sound nothing, after couple of try it just start. It has 105k mile, starter replaced 2 years ago, went to test battery and its good its only 2 year old battery. It doesn't do it all the time, worst when I let it sit for a day or two, and when it does start it would start right away even when I turn car off. Anyone have any idea? Thanks

Gene01

Since you have already checked the battery voltage, I think the next thing to check would be the battery cable connectors (especially the positive one). They can develop unseen corrosion damage where attached to the cable conductor. This is easy to look at and cheap to fix.
Also, I would verify the voltage - the cigarette lighter is an easy place to do this. Note that there is no voltage here when the key is OFF, unlike most other cars.

billydpowe

iTrader: (1)

next time it fails, put your drivers window down and see if you can hear a click out under the hood, and report back..

anesthesia

Batterey terminal clean intact, windows were down didn't hear anything. I been searching and reading hopefully it's somthing simple. Any body have any suggestion

Legender

Stole this from another thread...
You're voltage measurements should be the same...
"
Sounds like a fuel problem, but the speedo issue would be too much of a coincidence, so I would suspect an electrical cause. If the car idles, get a meter and measure the battery voltage without any significant loads. It should measure measure between 13.0 and 14.5 volts at idle. Then turn on A/C and headlights; it should measure at least 13.0 volts at idle. The fact that it cranks okay now, but didn't at first suggests a bad connection from the battery cabling, so you'll need to look at everything, wriggle cables, etc. and see if anything is suspect. Missing while idling could be very low voltage to the coils--again, caused by battery or poor connections. The fact that it didn't crank at first would indicate that ecu/tps/MAF, etc. are not the root cause. Any codes? "

RA40

iTrader: (6)

If you jump it, does it start right up? Just because the starter was replaced, does not rule it out. What starter was put in? A factory starter or aftermarket? Usually they just click but the two areas are a good battery and that the battery has sufficient juice to actuate the plunger.

How are the other electrical systems in the car? Windows, lights, radio, door locks all work?

anesthesia

I'll update this as I'm bring it to Lexus dealer, I know it's not the starter (oem replace 2 yrs ago) and not battery. I have a feeling it's the neutral switch or fuel relay. I know I'm going to get rape by dealer but I just need this fix right the first time plus I get a free loaner to abuse will update with fix. In mean time lets see who gets the right diagnose by just giving your best guess. PureDrifter? LScowboy?

LScowboyLS

well it is not a fuel or fuel pump relay issue, as that wouldn't stop the starter from cranking over, in fact, if you take a look at your wiring diagram, very few things on the entire car can make it go completely dead

I don't have the wiring diagram in front of me, but off of the top of my head here is the short list:

● battery bad or discharged battery (which could be due to a power steering fluid soaked alternator)
● bad ground(s)
● bad battery connections or hidden corrosion (such as hidden under the bolt on the + side where it connects to cable - common)
● a critical primary fuse
● a critical fuse link
● starter/solenoid contacts
● starter solenoid
● starter motor (rare)
● ignition switch
● theft deterrent system is not liking something, such as your key
● neutral/park safety switch issue (as yamae described a unique fix for in another thread)
● a broken or damaged primary power cable to one of the above (rare)

even with a messed up ECU it should attempt to crank unless it is getting a red flag from the theft deterrent circuitry or one of the other aforementioned issues

RA40

iTrader: (6)

With the theft deterrent system active, it will still crank. The big systems aside, my thought is the key cylinder.

Does this car have an aftermarket audio system installed?

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

put the car in neutral. try again.

Yamae

I like that idea. This often works when the neutral safety switch is not fully conductive.

anesthesia

Drop the car off Friday, will update. No aftermarket alarm, I did not try to start car in neutral. Hopefully it's not my starter since it was replace 2 yrs ago, it might be possible that it can go bad after 2 yrs, it was replaced by Lexus dealer back then.

anesthesia

Just want to update on this, so it turns out to be my starter, I was very surprise since it had been only 2 years and about 20k miles. I'm not sure why it fail so early, I guess my thought is although its being replace at Lexus dealer and using oem parts it is after all refurbish, meaning new parts inside but reuse old casing. I hope this time around it last longer than 2 years.

LScowboyLS

yes, something is fishy about the previous repair - if they used the real Toyota OEM contacts, then the rebuilt starter should have lasted as many miles as the original!

fixmiester

Be sure to ask for the old parts back; the solenoid is the likely culprit, but you might be charged for both. Even dealerships pull this trick on items that are so hard to verify by the customer. I would guess that the starter motor is good for three times the life of the solenoid.