'89 Camry intermittent starting issue (driving me crazy!)

TimTheSloth
Thu, 01 Aug 2013 22:59:35 +0000
Maintenance/Repairs

I have a 1989 Camry that my dad bought new when I was 4 years old. It has 310k miles on it so it obviously comes up with some quirky issues from time to time but generally speaking it still runs well and still gets over 30 miles to gallon.

On occasion the car will not start. There is no whirring sound of the engine trying to turn over, there is no click of the starter. The power is fully functional, including locks, radio, windows and indeed a jump start won’t get the car going. There is one sure-fire method to get the car started that works every time, waiting two or three hours (this can be impractical at the grocery store). I have taken the car to multiple mechanics to get the problem diagnosed and fixed, and after driving the car around for a while they have been unable to reproduce it. Through trial and error I have been able to reproduce it down to a science… drive the car around for an hour or so, and immediately after shutting off the engine the car will not start.

My current plan is to drive around aimlessly for an hour and cruise into the car repair place, and hope they can diagnose the issue within the next two hours before the car starts normally again, but I feel like this amount of info should be able to give a reasonable clue what’s going on without relying on the questionable timing of car repair shops.

Does anyone have any ideas what may be causing my problem or any thoughts about how I can investigate? I don’t have a volt meter, but I suppose I could go out and get one. Thanks for your help.

19 posts - 10 participants