I have a 2005 Scion xB in solid condition (outside of the traditional mangled bumpers), but a starting issue is giving me fits.

The car wouldn't start yesterday morning, but would give a few clicks and flatline with the steering wheel unlocked and the engine never having fired. The same thing happened a few months ago and after giving it some rest, the car started and has been fine ever since.

Yesterday afternoon I tried again and it didn't have enough juice to blast... the lights would go on when i turned the key, the tones would go off when the door was open, but the car would click and not respond.

So I changed the battery and cleaned the terminals... the car then started great and idled great. I tried it again 15 minutes later and it was perfect.

This morning I went to run a few errands and the car started perfect from being idle all night and drove fine. After shopping for 10 minutes, the car wouldn't start again... same issue.

I called for a ride and went back to the car 2 hours later... it started and i drove it home.

So it's sitting out there now... what do you think the issue might be?

 

i had similar issue. turned out to be a loose ground wire to the battery terminal and it wasnt fully getting charged. other than that, could your alternator be starting to go?

 

Have you tested the alternator?