2005 Camry won't start.

I did a stupid thing. I was turning around on a road this afternoon, went a little too far forward and drove over a limb that was on the ground. It caught under the bumper as I was backing up. It looked small and I was tired so I said screw it and drove forward over the limb. It turned out to be a bit bigger than I had thought but no damage was visible underneath the car. However, while driving over the limb the car died. Now it won't start.

I've worked a bit on cars but I don't know anything about newer cars with all of their sensors and electronics. I'm not sure how to go about troubleshooting this. I don't know if it's a spark problem or a fuel problem or what. The batter was very low on water but was still glowing green. When I turn the key the starter spins like it normally would but it's never taken more than a half second for the car to start.

I bought this car new and just a couple weeks ago I hit 90,000 miles. I have an extended warranty on it that I bought when I bought the car but I don't know anything about it or what is covered. I was told it was the standard warranty for Toyota vehicles. I had been at the dealership for several hours and didn't really pay attention to the nitty gritty details on the warranty. I'm assuming that whatever is causing this is not covered.

I crawled under the car and there is something that looks kinda like a spark plug screwed into the exhaust pipe with wires coming out. I'm told this is an oxygen sensor. The wires coming out look like they may be a bit frayed or whatever you want to call it, however they are not broken and are still making contact. I'm also told by the clerk at Kragen's that this part is $480 so swapping it to see if that's the issue isn't really an option.

Like most people these days, I'm way short on cash. Add to that this isn't even my car anymore. I sold it to my sister and just happened to be driving it today when this happened. So I need to get it fixed pronto, without spending much money. How do I go about troubleshooting this? Has anyone had this happen before?

I googled my problem and there are a lot of results for non-starting camry's but I didn't find anything useful, so now I'm turning to you wonderful people. What tests do I need to do or how should I proceed?

It's a 2005 Camry LE with the 2.4L engine. Just over 90,000 miles. Shows roughly an eighth of a tank of gas. I've never done any engine work on it. Just the usual oil changes (every 5,000 miles with Mobile

1 5w30 oil). I've also changed the tires a couple times. One thing to note is that I was in an accident last November and the whole ass end was messed up. Total damage was right about $14,000. Why the insurance company fixed it is anyone's guess. There was no engine damage in that wreck. I was rear ended by a pickup truck and that pushed me into the vehicle in front of me but the engine was fine. The car went to the shop, a month later we got it back, and it's started just fine ever since.

I know on some cars you can do something with the key to get it to flash a code that tells you what is wrong with the engine. Would this happen to be one of the cars that has that?

Thanks in advance for any help!!!

Reply to
Blimey85
Loading thread data ...

I don't think an oxygen sensor problem would prevent the car from starting. I don't want to insult you, but are you sure you're not out of gas?

Reply to
Nobody Important

I put a couple gallons of gas in it to be sure that wasn't the issue. I've run it to below empty before and it was showing about 1/8 of a tank so I didn't think that would be the issue, but I added a couple gallons to be sure. Still won't start.

Reply to
Blimey85

If the extended warranty is still valid I would probably try bringing it in to Toyota. I destroyed a shock absorber hitting a median hard (the bright line on the road actually goes right up to the middle of the median..... I am not the first person to have hit it hard) and Chrysler handled it under the extended warranty even though it was obviously road collision damage.

Reply to
Art

Was it a pretty big jolt when you ran over the branch? I'm not sure about this, but I think there's a switch that cuts off the fuel pump when the car gets a bit jolt. The reset button is usually somewhere in the passenger footrest area.

Note that I only have a vague memory about this switch and may be completely mistaken about its existence on your camry.

Reply to
Nobody Important

Chrysler should have booted your sorry ass out the door--little wonder they are on the verge of bankruptcy, covering feeble claims such as that one.

Reply to
Sharx35

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.