well to be honest im known for doing dodgy things to get me by!
Honestly, if you hadn't said anything I probably would've been content with my dodgy solution, but you're right, its terribly dangerous. thanks for taking my attitude and pointing out its flaws.
If I cant find the problem with one of these circuit tracers (thanks for the product name), ill just stick in a new relay in the new wire and activate it with the natural safety switch wire, which I've already managed to work out.

Wifey is just happy that I'm not screaming and throwing things

 

Not to say what you did was wrong cause I have been known to do the same.
But, here on the forum, try to give the best advice.

 

all sorted now
I just re ran everything from the back of the relay board (whatever u call the thing under the dash) to the starter and the transmision switch. Mustve been under water at some point, this city of Cebu does suffer from some serious 3rd world road drainage issues....
so now im hoping other things dont start popping up.

 

Let us know how it goes.

 

I'm also fom the Philippines and let me clear up something, ther are mechanics here but most are just snakeoil salesmen. Second, we dont have carfax here or something like it wherein you can lookup a VIN number to see if it was totalled or what. I wont be surprised if one buys a totalled but just repaired with hodge podge parts and repainted. I happen to have bought one. I'm never going to buy second hand from another person again unless its from someone I know. Caveat emptor.

I have an 05 CRV. Runs fine despite being delivered the bad news by our mechanic (who used to work as the head mechanic of a branch of Honda Philippines) that the car was totalled and was just repaired. Charge to experience despite a bunch of red flags I saw during inspection. I'm an idiot.

It ran and started fine for about a year or so until I started to have problems. After being parked overnight, it takes time to start. I had to twist it to ignition, hold that position for a couple of seconds or until it starts. Sometimes its around 30 seconds, sometimes it just 5. So I _almost_ have the same problem as you. But mine happens to start without problems after it runs and then stops. Its just the annoying "it takes forever to start when cold" that was pissing me off.

I replaced the ignition switch (on the keyhole several times, I dont have a security chip), I've changed some fuses that might be related to ignition. I bought a spare starter just in case, and everytime it fails to start these jack**** snakeoil repairmen fiddles with it, if it starts, they get paid blaming <insert reason here>. Trust me, from the starter, the battery (even if its new), the wirings, etc. An electrician even hardwired a push to start button. It kinda worked for a couple of days and the problem is back.

There are many CRVs here which are sold for parts, I bought a bunch of relays from a guy tracing the ignition process: starter cut relay, main relay, fuel pump relay. I told myself that if this still wont fix it, im gonna drive this damn crap off a cliff and call it a day.

Today I decided to pull out the starter cut relay. I did not change the relays despite having it for months due to the difficulty of pulling it out. For some reason my below steering wheel fuse box was in an awkward position so I ended up destroying the old fuel cut relay. Inserted the replacement I got and it started like a charm. Hopefully tomorrow morning it would still start well.

TLDR; if you havent, try replacing all the relays related to ignition.

The Philippines is a harsh, dog eat dog world place. Stay safe my friend.

PS: If you are in Manila, search "bukid tuning" (abet omal) or "lacasr motorworks" (larry castillo) both used to work as top honda mechanics in their branches here in Manila.

 

POGZ, thanks for the words of wisdom.
Yeah, tough luck buying someone's crash and fix.
Still, if done right then it can go a long time.
Good luck, hope it was just the relay.

My motto is to test first before replacing parts.
Of course, sometimes it is cheaper and faster just to replace a part.
Anyway, enjoy the ride.