i bought a 95 civic ex from my brother. he told me all that was wrong with it was the gas gauge was broken, and i had to wait fir the fuel pump to kick on before starting it. when i took my fiancee to her school registration, it wouldn't start again.(and the brake lights started staying on all the time after i bought it,so i had to keep disconnecting the battery, by the way) we got it to start by popping the clutch one time but after we got it home we couldn't do it again, so we got a new starter, installed it, the car still won't turn over, and now the battery is totally dead, and not only that but i had someone help jumpstart it and they said it might also be the alternator, or even the fuses. i need some advice on what the problem could be. i'm not a mechanic but we have to take this car from FL to VT in two weeks with children in it, and i really don't want there to be any problems on the way.

 

here is a quick test. get the car started and let it run for about 2 minutes. get a screwdriver and wave it over as much of the alternator as possible. if the alternator has a strong magnetic pull its bad. that should save you that pain of having to do all the work and $$ for nothing.

 

thank you, i'm gonna do that when i can get it started, right now i have to get a new ECU for it because the kid that had it before my brother tried to put a sound system in it and rigged all the wiring so when we took out the amps, we took out the ECU and someone threw it away. they thought it was just a big amp. come to think of it, i think there was two of them but i think one was bad. i also had to put a bolt into the brake pedal arm to cut the switch for the brake lights so they don't stay on ALL the time, the spacer that's supposed to be there, fell out or something. and that was what was drainig my battery the whole time. so after i get the ECU, i'm getting a battery, and testing my alternator. and again thank you for the tip.

 

no problem and man thats what you call bad luck. i hope you get the car fixed hondas are a lot of fun but not when they are missing a bunch of crap haha. keep us updated on the car though.

 

got the car running! we got an ecu from a '92 honda accord, and it works pretty good. we found a couple of minor issues we have to fix, like the ignition switch, that's gonna be a fun project. i'm gonna hook up a switch to the battery and the starter, instead of arcing the starter. i also need to put in some missing fuses. this is actually turning out to be a fun project besides the money we had to put out.

 

haha thats good to hear. i had a 98 civic ex and it was the most fun car ive ever had. your going to enjoy it and i hope you get all the bugs worked out because civic= amazing lol. good luck.