# Car randomly wont start **URL:** \ **Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\ **Created:** [July 30, 2021, 3:18pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/car-randomly-wont-start/178376 "2021-07-30T15:18:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jameson.luttrell\_154832](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e274bd/32.png) [@jameson.luttrell\_154832](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jameson.luttrell_154832)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2021, 3:18pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/car-randomly-wont-start/178376/1 "2021-07-30T15:18:53Z")
2003 Rav4 randomly wont start. The dash lights and ac turn on. The starter doesn’t engage at all. Would this be the starter or ignition? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![VDCdriver](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/vdcdriver/32/30_2.png) [@VDCdriver](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VDCdriver)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2021, 3:27pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/car-randomly-wont-start/178376/2 "2021-07-30T15:27:58Z")
How old is the battery? My first suspect would be the battery. ---
**Author:** ![texases](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/texases/32/862_2.png) [@texases](https://community.cartalk.com/u/texases)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2021, 3:28pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/car-randomly-wont-start/178376/3 "2021-07-30T15:28:00Z")
How old is the starter? Toyota starters are known to wear out the starter solenoid contacts, resulting in an intermittent no-start. I’d first check the battery cables and connections, and try starting in neutral to make sure it’s not the switches in the shift mechanism. ---
**Author:** ![jameson.luttrell\_154832](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e274bd/32.png) [@jameson.luttrell\_154832](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jameson.luttrell_154832)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2021, 3:38pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/car-randomly-wont-start/178376/4 "2021-07-30T15:38:30Z")
Ill go test that. ---
**Author:** ![jameson.luttrell\_154832](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e274bd/32.png) [@jameson.luttrell\_154832](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jameson.luttrell_154832)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2021, 3:40pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/car-randomly-wont-start/178376/5 "2021-07-30T15:40:01Z")
I have no idea how old it is. Thanks for the advice people ---
**Author:** ![jameson.luttrell\_154832](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e274bd/32.png) [@jameson.luttrell\_154832](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jameson.luttrell_154832)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2021, 4:11pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/car-randomly-wont-start/178376/6 "2021-07-30T16:11:33Z")
> [@texases](#): > > starter solenoid contacts Thanks for the advice. It started in neutral. Battery is good sand the terminals are good. Wouldn’t I hear a click if it was the contacts? I’m not getting any noise when this happens. ---
**Author:** ![VDCdriver](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/vdcdriver/32/30_2.png) [@VDCdriver](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VDCdriver)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2021, 4:13pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/car-randomly-wont-start/178376/7 "2021-07-30T16:13:16Z")
> [@jameson.luttrell\_154832](#): > > It started in neutral. If it started “normally” when you shifted to neutral, that would seem to point to a bad _Neutral Safety Switch_. ---
**Author:** ![jameson.luttrell\_154832](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e274bd/32.png) [@jameson.luttrell\_154832](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jameson.luttrell_154832)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2021, 4:18pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/car-randomly-wont-start/178376/8 "2021-07-30T16:18:12Z")
Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![jameson.luttrell\_154832](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e274bd/32.png) [@jameson.luttrell\_154832](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jameson.luttrell_154832)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2021, 4:20pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/car-randomly-wont-start/178376/9 "2021-07-30T16:20:35Z")
I didn’t test it in neutral when I was having problems in starting in park. The car is only having problems starting every few days. ---
**Author:** ![Nevada\_545](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/nevada_545/32/41232_2.png) [@Nevada\_545](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Nevada_545)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2021, 4:26pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/car-randomly-wont-start/178376/10 "2021-07-30T16:26:14Z")
If there is a problem with the park/neutral switch, the “P” indicator will not illuminate in the instrument cluster. It is likely that the starter is failing. ---
**Author:** ![jameson.luttrell\_154832](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e274bd/32.png) [@jameson.luttrell\_154832](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jameson.luttrell_154832)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2021, 4:32pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/car-randomly-wont-start/178376/11 "2021-07-30T16:32:46Z")
Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![texases](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/texases/32/862_2.png) [@texases](https://community.cartalk.com/u/texases)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2021, 4:59pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/car-randomly-wont-start/178376/12 "2021-07-30T16:59:38Z")
> [@jameson.luttrell\_154832](#): > > Wouldn’t I hear a click if it was the contacts? I’m not getting any noise when this happens. No, I didn’t get a click noise when this happened to my Toyota.