2002 Toyota Camry startup intermittent issue

Next time this happens jiggle the transmission shift lever. There is a neutral safety switch attached to it that will not allow the car to crank if it should be in gear, or mis-adjusted.

Just a thought.

Check the hot connection to the starter. I had this problem with my Jeep. Once I removed the lead and reconnected, I had no more problems.

You can guess from now till you sell the car, or stumble on the answer, or, you can wire a test light or two, or three and find the problem. As a minimum, the start signal must originate at the ignition switch, pass through the neutral safety(or clutch safety) switch, pass through the firewall and attach to the starter.

If you only use one test light, connect the positive lead to the starter motor at the connection with the small wire alone on it. If using a second, tap into the switched side of the safety switch. As a note here, the wiring harness may be set up to fit both automatic and manual transmissions. In that case, the factory will just insert a jumper wire in the harness where the unused switch would go. This could be loose. If your car uses a relay for the starter circuit, an additional check of the power going to this relay would be handy.

If you use inexpensive indicator lights in different colors, you will get a system check each time you start the car. Use a green for the relay power supply indicator, choose red or amber for the other two, and the next time it fails to start, there will be very specific places to look, or test at.

One last word, do not assume that because the dash warning lights go through their test function when you turn the key to the start position that there is power to the start circuit. These two circuits are separate inside the ignition switch. Good luck.

After looking carefully at wires. Making sure of tight connections. And even though the clamps were tight I decided to remove the battery post clamps to clean them. I found some buildup. I also had a stripped bolt. So I decided to change out the clamps with new ones. I wired brush the battery posts and installed the clamps. So far so good with no more intermittent startups.

Glad it worked out well for you. Thanks for letting us know.