07 TCH with Toyota remote start.

Past few mornings would not remotely start ( about -2 F at the time). Lights flashed once, but no starting (so I know signal got through). Able to remotely start later in the day without problem, and typically no issues with this unit. Car started without problem (normal start). Any thoughts/suggestions.

Thanks,

Fred
Lansing,MI

 

Just thought I'd chime in and say I'm experiencing the same problem. I live in Chicago, and the last few days have been brutal (about -30F with windchill). The car starts fine using the push button, but the remote start did the one flash thing that you mentioned and never started.

 

I've had the same issue. I've did a restart after the first one failed, and it worked. I spaced the clicks a little longer. I'm guessing if there is overlap between the clicks, it fails. I'll try again.

 

Problems are battery.Please try changing a battery in car remote. This usually helps. You can purchase a new or used car remote from our website - http://www.carandtruckremotes.com/index.html. We offer free shipping for batteries
If you changed the battery and your keyless entry remote still does not work, most likely you need a new remote.

 

One possibility is that the chemical reaction that lets batteries store energy is quite temperature dependant. It slows down quite a bit with cold. The battery at the receiving end could be the culprit. The initial draw will create enough heat that the second or third try will be successful.

Depending on the source for the remote start system, whether the Camry battery or an auxiliary one, that could be what is happening. There is an old "procedure" for dealing with this, that I learned a long time ago when I lived in the Midwest. It was to turn the headlights on for 30 seconds or so to "wake up" the battery before trying to start on a really cold morning.

The theory was that powering the headlights would create enough heat from the chemical reaction to bring the battery up to a more suitable level of charge. We may be effectively doing something of this sort when we turn on the dome light by opening the door and "booting" the computers by starting the ignition process (can't say turning the key). Coupled with advances in battery technology, this may be what we are doing.

 

IMO this defeats the purpose of remote start. If you are in the car turning on the headlights - you might as well start it there...

 

I'm having no problems with my remote start right now, though I rarely use it (in cold or hot weather). I think the 85-95 degree weather is probably helping the "reaction" in my battery though! 90 tomorrow, 96 on Monday. Maybe I'll need to revisit this thread in 4 or 5 months...