Hey everyone,

I'm new here - and working on my wife's Civic. A couple days ago she could not get the car to start so she took out a jump start pack and after hooking it up, the car did start. Since the jump got her going again, she assumed the battery was going bad so she had it replaced at Autozone (Duralast). Then, the next day, she had same problem so I had her bring it home so I could check it out. I too observed the intermittent no start. I found that with the brake on, in park, and pressing the START button, I was hearing a sharp click which I think is the starter solenoid, but no engine rotation. The battery is good (charged) and I cleaned the terminals - that didn't help. I did some googling and consensus seemed to be that if the solenoid is clicking but no start, it's almost certainly the starter. So, I picked up a new starter and installed it. To my dismay, we still have the intermittent no start.

At this point I think I can rule out the battery and starter motor itself, and the fact that it does start sometimes seemed to indicate the connectors etc on the starter are not the problem since it's behaving the same as before even after unplugging and replugging everything.

I see a switch above the brake pedal (cream colored box with a plunged that comes out when you push the brake pedal). I tried manipulating it while the brake was depressed and while pushing the start button but it didn't seem to make a difference.

There is also the neutral safety switch on the transmission which I haven't checked out yet. However, I can't find a pattern to shifting through the gears between each start attempt either. It just sometimes starts and sometimes doesn't.

I pulled out the starter relay (I think? The black Omron relay closest to the OBD2 plug). It looked OK and not dirty so I popped it back in, no improvement.

Wondering if there is anything else I can check before I take it in? I know I should be under the car with a meter checking to make sure I'm getting power to the solenoid when the ignition switch is pressed but I haven't had a chance to get someone else in the garage with me to do that.

 

Intermittent no starts are tough to diagnose. So, I understand trying everything to figure it out. At this point, I figure it is probably a bad ground on the engine block. Try plugging in the OBDII and starting the engine a few times. If it starts every time then could be bad ground. Also, can try using voltmeter, probe on battery negative and probe ion engine block while cranking engine. If there is more than 0.5 volt reading then bad ground. Good luck.

 

Thanks for the response. My plan for tomorrow (when I get the car back again) is to remove the battery and tray and try to trace the ground wire from battery to frame. I imagine that in area I'll find the engine ground too. I also picked up a new starter relay, and I found a video that shows how to clean the terminals inside the neutral safety switch which is also located under the battery tray. If I still have no luck there it must be either the brake switch or the ignition switch.

 

Replace or swap the starter relay before going through all the switches.

 

Will do. Got a new one waiting to go in tomorrow first thing. I'll be back and let you all know what I found!

 

It is a good thing to follow the negative battery cable to the chassis ground and to clean those contact points. But, the ground I am thinking of is on the side of the engine. Of course I could definitely be wrong. Good idea to begin by replacing the starter cut relay. Hope that fixes it.

 

Hey everyone,
Well unfortunately I'm pretty well stumped on this one. Over the weekend I did the following:

• Cleaned the negative cable terminals from battery to the front chassis next to the headlamp (removed the cable and wire-brushed
• Cleaned the engine ground that connects from the top of the transmission to the frame (remove and wire wheel)
• Cleaned the engine ground that connects the top of the pass side motor mount to the frame (remove and wire wheel)
• Removed the neutral safety switch , unfortunately it is not the type that has screws that can be removed to clean the inside, so there was nothing I could do expect put it back in place
• Removed and replaced both starter relays in the engine electrical compartment
• Tried to start the car with a jumper cable connected between the battery negative post and the engine block which should eliminate grounds as a problem - no improvement.

And yet, no dice. I can still hear the starter solenoid clicking when I push the ignition switch, but most of the time the starter will not attempt to crank. Since I'm back to work this week I don't have time to keep messing with it so I had to bring it to the shop this morning.

Since the solenoid is clicking, it seems like the problem has to be either the new starter is also faulty, or there is a problem with the positive 12V mains cable going to the starter. If I had more time, I would have started to dig into that side now that I know the ground side is good.

I will update this post with the solution once it is found!

 

Do you know how to use a DVOM?

 

I sure do, however I just ran out of time. The next step would have been to get the car back up on ramps to use a meter directly on the starter but I would have had to remove the starter again in order to check the positive lug and the solenoid terminal because they are not accessible with the starter mounted in place (they are directly between the starter and the lower crankcase, would be so much easier if they were facing outward!). Removing, testing, and putting the starter back in would have been another 3 hour job and I just didn't have the time to jack with it anymore. Probably a lot easier if you have the car on a lift, all I have is ramps , jack stands, and a creeper.

 

Well, it turns out the replacement starter I bought from O'Reilly (Optima brand remanufactured) was bad too! I took the car in to a shop and they diagnosed a bad starter. They put a different NEW one in and gave me back my O'Reilly starter. Got my money back on that one. What a pain in the ***! Hope this helps someone else. If you hear the solenoid go CLACK!!! whenever you press the ignition switch but the engine doesn't try to turn over... it's almost guaranteed to be a bad starter winding.