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Hi there,

I have a 2006 Toyota Mark X. The car wouldn't start from yesterday. When I tried to start it, the whole car power went off. Waited for a couple of hours, the power came back on by itself without me doing anything then the car was started ok. This morning, same thing happened again. After checking the battery, I found the negative terminal of the battery was very lose so I tightened it up and that seems solved the power off issue. However, the car is still not starting and I noticed the engine light is illuminated constantly. Is there any suggestion on this one? Is the engine light on because of the power issue I had?

Thanks in advance.
Thomas

This sounds like the loose battery terminal was the main cause of the problem. When you say the car is not starting, I'm assuming the engine doesn't wind over at normal speed or is not winding over at all? (ie; sounding like a flat battery).
If this is correct, it could be that the battery is flat due to the loose terminal, therefore there was no charge going from the alternator to the battery. This can cause various anomolies with warning lights etc.
If I have correctly understood, it sounds like the battery will need charging. As an AA Member, I suggest you call AA Roadservice (0800 500 222) who will be able to jump start the car so you can get it to a garage to have the battery charged.

Thanks for your reply but I don't think the battery is flat because I checked the inspection Window on the battery and it shows green. The stater motor is cranking but no ignition. Any more suggestion?

Regards

If the engine is winding over at correct speed but not firing, I'm a little concerned that due to the loose battery terminal, an electronic component has been "spiked", causing failure of an engine ECU or something similar.
I'd still suggest calling AA Roadservice.

Ok, thanks. Will do that and post back the fault finding. Cheers.

Okay, this is surprisingly simple. This bit of info may help whoever having the same issue. The AA guy said the problem was that I started the car then switched it off too quickly, which caused the engine flooding. It's very comon in winter, he rescued four people (including myself) this morning all because of flooding! He keep cranking the engine for about 4 min then the car started and everything back to normal. This is my first time using AA serviceand I'm very happy with it. Thanks you all for the help. Regards

That's excellent news. In your case, the previous problem was a bit of a red herring.
Flooding such as this is quite common with modern fuel injected cars, especially when the engine is only started for a few seconds from cold, then stopped again. We often hear of it when people move their car out of the garage to clean it.
Glad everything worked out in the end.