My 2002 Camry LE died

after

the

drving

Both.

Alternator is bad, not charging, and the battery; once drained, can't keep the car running any longer. Best bet would be the alternator, replace it and CHARGE THE BATTERY! while replacing the alternator or the heavy drain placed on it when your start it initially may blow a diode in the replacement. (Seen it happen). Then after a day or so, test the battery, most likely will be ok being it's only a couple years old.

BTW: In my experience, the junkyards are much better sources for electrical (alternators and starters) than any "rebuilds" you can buy. Most just clean them up and replace only a bare minimum of parts. My daughter went through

4 "lifetime" replacement alternators in 3 months before I got mad went to the junkyard got one for 20 bucks and two years later still going strong. (had the swap out down to about 15 minutes by #4) :)

Good luck. Mark

It could be the battery dont drive the car, pull the battery and any auto store or service station will ck it free. Dont let your car charge a dead battery its hard on the alternator

My 2002 LE's battery died with only 28,867 miles in fewer than two-years on the car. Toyota replaced it (and towed the car) free of charge. If my memory serves me, this has happened to others as well.

Steve

Nonsense. An alternator cannot charge a *dead* battery because the alternator rotor requires battery voltage (min 5 volts typically) to make magnetism ... to generate current/voltage. Even with minimum required voltage present, the typical owner is not going to operate the car continuously until the battery is fully charged so ... put the battery on a charger.

OP should fully charge the battery over night and then have it load tested.

--

- Philip @ Maximum Torque RPM

My battery on 2002 Camry died after 40,100 miles, one of the internal = cells died (or got disconnected) and the voltage at the terminals is = only 10.7 volts. This battery died 4,000 miles after the factory = warranty expired.

Just get a new battery and your problems will be solved, they use cheap = batteries on car from the factory.

two-years on

my

Car battery and charging systems work together and when one fails you need to test both. Some auto parts or battery stores like Auto Zine, Sears, Wal-Mart, Ped Boys, etc. will test them for free, but the most common causes are loose or broken alternator belt, corrosion, or low electrolyte levels. Please see Section 5.1 or 17 in the Car and Deep Cycle Battery FAQ on

for more information and troubleshooting tips

Kindest regards,

BiLL.......

died (or got disconnected) and the voltage at the terminals is only 10.7 volts. This battery died 4,000 miles after the factory warranty expired.

batteries on car from the factory.

died (or got >disconnected) and the voltage at the terminals is only 10.7 volts. This battery died >4,000 miles after the factory warranty expired.

Mine had an internal short.

Steve

Funny, cuz the same exact thing just happened to my 2002 Camry LE (35k, 2.5 years). It was parked as home during the day and when I went out to drive it, it just wouldn't start.

Friend came over with cables and a voltameter, and the weird thing was it read 12 V when idle. But once I cranked it, it would drop down to 5 V. So we decided to jump it, left it on for 10-15 minutes, the proceeded to drive around my neighborhood. A mile later, it completely died at a stop sign (while the car was running). I jumped it again and went back home to the driveway.

From these posts, I see it could either be battery/alternator, but not sure what to do at this point. Called the local dealership and the service guy said he'd never heard of it happening before. Should I tow it to the dealer? (My car is still under warranty) Did the parent poster (Nitin Gupta) resolve what was wrong with the car?

Funny, cuz the same exact thing just happened to my 2002 Camry LE (35k, 2.5 years) yesterday. It was parked at home during the day and when I went out to drive it, it just wouldn't start.

Friend came over with cables and a voltameter, and the weird thing was it read 12 V when idle. But once I cranked it, it would drop down to 5 V. So we decided to jump it, left it on for 10-15 minutes, the proceeded to drive around my neighborhood. A mile later, it completely died at a stop sign (while the car was running). I jumped it again and went back home to the driveway.

From these posts, I see it could either be battery/alternator, but not sure what to do at this point. Called the local dealership and the service guy said he'd never heard of it happening before. Should I tow it to the dealer? (My car is still under warranty) Did the parent poster (Nitin Gupta) resolve what was wrong with the car?

Funny, cuz the same exact thing just happened to my 2002 Camry LE (35k, 2.5 years) yesterday. It was parked at home during the day and when I went out to drive it, it just wouldn't start.

Friend came over with cables and a voltameter, and the weird thing was it read 12 V when idle. But once I cranked it, it would drop down to 5 V. So we decided to jump it, left it on for 10-15 minutes, the proceeded to drive around my neighborhood. A mile later, it completely died at a stop sign (while the car was running). I jumped it again and went back home to the driveway.

From these posts, I see it could either be battery/alternator, but not sure what to do at this point. Called the local dealership and the service guy said he'd never heard of it happening before. Should I tow it to the dealer? (My car is still under warranty) Did the parent poster (Nitin Gupta) resolve what was wrong with the car?

Sorry for the the quintiple post, I was hitting refresh to re-view/back to review the topic and it re-posted several times.

Probably needs new battery. Check warranty to see if battery still covered and whether dealer responsible for tow.

2.5

If the battery voltage dropped to 5 volts while cranking, the battery is bad or dead (because the alternator is bad). After the car was jumped and running you needed to measure the battery again. If while running the battery measured ~13.5 to 15 volts, than the alternator was charging the battery and the battery is bad (not holding a charge). If the voltage on the battery was below 12 volts while the car is running the alternator is bad. My guess is the alternator is bad if the car died at a stop sign. Also note the voltages are ballpark numbers.

-- Tony Marsillo Nutmeg Repair

2.5

So I called a AAA tech guy for a tow, and he brought over a simple handheld machine that checked the battery vs. the alternator. Like the other posters have mentioned, the voltage across the battery was ~ 13 V while the car was running, indicating the alternator was good. In the end, his machine indicated that it was 100% the battery's fault.

The tech guy explained to me that it's a common problem in Camry's, that if the CPU detects the battery dropping below a certain voltage, the car just shuts down entirely. This explains why it died while I was driving it. I grabbed a brand new battery and things seems to be working fine. Thanks for all the responses!