Mechanic ?

[HogHunter34]

I have a 2007 toyota sienna minivan. It would not start the other day. It made the typical clicking noise. I figured the battery. I removed battery and took it to autozone. they said it was dead (1yr 5 mo later) but showed 100% charge meaning the alternator is good. However, ive experienced a couple of times since nothing happening when turning the key and even the keyless entry will not unlock doors. Is this most likely a loose cable connection with a new battery or could the starter be going out? will there be any noise or clicking if the starter is going out?

thanks

[mperez76er]

Loose battery cable or loose ground to chassi or maybe it's loose to make sure u got a good ground to chassi maybe all u need to do is clean it up just remove and buff with some sand paper could be rusted out

[pappabear]

I'd clean the battery posts and cables real good. there's been a time or two i thought my starter was going out, turned out to be bad connection. Use a wire brush and or knife to get all contact points of the cables and batteries shiny clean.

[HogHunter34]

thanks. that is what im thinking. I get absolutely nothing when key turns. and then restart i can get it to crank just fine. i just wondered if the starter going out would make some kind of noise or cause a complete deadness when attempting to start it. Im planning to take a better look at the the connections and conditions

[pappabear]

even if the cables are tight and look clean, take them off and clean them good. it's free to do and hopefully an easy fix to the problem. Alot of times but not always, when a starter begins to go bad, you'll at least hear the solenoid clicking when you try to start the vehicle

[DrenalinJunkie]

Have someone turn the key while you are under the van with a hammer tapping on the starter.

In the past, if the starter was going out, tapping on it would sometimes engage it hense letting you know the starter was going out.

[okie1]

Did you replace the Batt? Sounds like you have one or more dead cells. Have you tried jump starting with jumper cables? Batt may show full charge until you crank then won't have enough cranking amps to start the car cause of dead cell. The clicking is the silonoid moving but not enough juice to turn starter. Good luck!

[N Dubya]

On every 2000+ yr vehicle I've owned, they all seemed to have gremlins for a couple of days after replacing the batteries. Never had one not crank though, sounds like corrosion somewhere in the cables. Clean everything, and retighten, maybe climb under and check the starter cables, but it just sounds like a bad connection to me.

[HogHunter34]

thanks for the input. it must have been corrosion. this thing has a battery brain on the positive side and there was alot of corrosion buildup at the connection point. i removed it and let it soak in baking soda and it cleaned it very well. i kinda figured bad connection because you couldn't even get the keyless entry to work or even interior lights. even with the old battery that was dead the keyless entry would at least work.

[N Dubya]

Good deal, glad it was cheap fix.