Toyota Repair: 97 camry le wont start, fuse one, fuse box


Question
My 97 Camry LE, now with 278k miles was our 3rd car until my wife’s car died 3 years ago and she took my car. The camry still runs great but over the past 2 years I would occasionally have trouble starting it. I would turn the key and hear one click and nothing happens. This usually happens every 4-6 weeks or so and only for 3 or 4 days the back to normal, and I never took it to my mechanic because until today it was always easy to get it started. I would only need to pop the hood, jiggle the red battery cable which would set off the alarm, then press a button on the remote to kill the alarm and it would start right up… sometimes it takes 2 or 3 tries.

Today this happened again but I could never get it started. After several tries I heard a buzzing noise coming from the fuse box, and a red indicator light on a button next to the steering wheel started blinking. I removed the fuse box cover and unplugged each large fuse one by one and none looked bad. The buzzing noise continued so to keep from draining the battery I decided to remove the positive cable from the battery terminal. As I unscrewed the bolt on the positive cable I heard 3 quick beeps from the alarm then a click…I knew that sound and as I feared, that click was the car doors locking. Luckily my keys weren’t inside the car, but I had a new ignition switch installed several years ago, so the ignition key doesn’t unlock the doors and the remote is locked inside the car. Now I have 2 problems.

I am sincerely grateful for any helpful advice/suggestions on solving either (or both) of these problems.

Answer
To get the doors open contact the toyota dealer and give them the VIN#, it's on the registration or it can be found inside on the dash at the lower left of the windshield, they may be able to make a key using the number to allow you to open the doors, if that's not an option most locksmiths can do the same.