1999 Toyota Camry Starting on its own

JARMIST229JU84

MEMBER
1999 TOYOTA CAMRY
4 CYL
FWD
AUTOMATIC
180,000 MILES

For three days in a row my car would not start on the first try in the morning, but would finally turn over after 3 or 4 times of trying. Then for the rest of the day it would not give me trouble starting again. The last time I was able to start it, I went back inside my house for 2-3 minutes and when I came back out it had turned off and would not do anything (no lights would turn on or anything). We tried to replace the battery but when both sides were attached, sparks started flying and it sounded like the engine was trying to turn over. Any ideas? The keys were not in the ignition when attaching the battery and my car will not let me even try to turn it on anymore.

3 Replies

RASMATAZ

MECHANIC
75,992 POSTS

Hi jarmist229ju84 and TY for the donation

Lets start by checking the starter out -solenoid could be shorting out causing it to crank engine over, and also the ignition switch report back asap

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Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 AT 6:35 PM

MHPAUTOS

MECHANIC
31,937 POSTS

Hi there,

Thank you for the donation,

You may have a faulty ignition switch, disconnect the solinoid wire from the starter that the small push on terminal, re attach the battery, check if there is power at that wire, it should only be powered up with the key on crank, if it is powered up the ignition switch could be at fault, I will have to chase up a wiring schematic to check for any starter relay location as well as this may also be at fault, I will re post as soon as I can get hold of a diagram to check this out.

Mark (mhpautos)