1997 Rav 4 electrical issue.

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Originally Posted by AC2717

wire connection harness in the steering colum - might be loose so when you move it byt using something else connected through it, it looses it connection to ignition

Agreed....it appears one (or both) of the ignition leads running through the key switch my have come loose. You will be looking for a white and a pink wire that is connected to the backside of the key-switch in the steering column. Start there and work your way back to the first connector to see if something has worked its way loose.

You could also lightly tap or pull on those two wires with the car running to see if you can duplicate the failure and further isolate the problem....