91akira

This cold morning I turned the key to get it to start and I get nothing. I do hear the fuel relay click. Lights, radio, power windows work fine. Checked the battery with a mulitmeter and It's reading 12 volts. So the battery is good.

What do you think needs replacing?

94VTECoupe

That's not the fuel relay you hear clicking, its the starter solenoid. You mean the click you hear when you turn the key, right?

If you hear one solid click, then there's enough power to at least make your engine slowly turn over. If you hear repeated clicking while you turn the key, then there's not enough power even making it to the solenoid.

I'm going to go with a bad starter, especially since you say this happens when its cold. Look around your area, my brother had his starter rebuilt for $25! Pretty cheap fix.

slo_teggy787

check fuses,coil,ignition module,if ur car is stick also check on the floor if you see a broken yellow peace if you do its the plug that plugs up on the clutch pedale its where when u push down the clutch and turn the ignition the yellow peace pushes a button to turn the car on

eaglewesman

I had that problem with my teggy - turn the key and I just hear a high pitched whine-like sound. Hit the starter with something hard (I used a lug wrench) and it should start right up. Then get it fixed (I ended up just buying a new starter). It's a fairly easy job.

91akira

Hey I do hear a whine-like sound but very faint though. How much did you pay for your new starter? And where did you purchase it from.

91akira

It clicks off after the key is turn all the way. Its one click. Thought that was the Main fuel relay clicking?

Hopefully autozone will rebuild it. I check on that

twentyhurtz

yes sometimes you can jar the starter while the solenoid is energized and cause it to start, this is because of the corrosion or gunk buildup in the starter, a few weeks ago mine was not starting or only starting occasionally so i put my multimeter on the solenoid input prong on the starter, it would read about 8v, so i knew high resistance in the starter was killing it. I took the starter off, opened the end where the solenoid input prong is and cleaned all the contacts and scraped them, used electronic safe lubricant and got all the build up out, put it back together and has worked flawlessly since then.

91akira

Cleaning it will fix this? Can it be cleaned without removing the starter from the engine? I don't know the anatomy of a starter or what it looks like. I do know the location of it though.

twentyhurtz

no, it will be 200 times harder to clean it with the starter on the car. This MAY NOT fix your problem, but it definitely solved mine. To remove the starter you need to disconnect the positive and negative battery post for safety. using a 13mm socket, remove the large 4 gauge terminal on the starter, unplug the small 18 gauge wire with boot on it, then i think its 2 14mm or 2 17mm bolts that hold the starter to the transmission, one actually goes through the transmission into the block, the other is alot shorter which only threads into the tranny, i think one i got my air intake off it took me maybe 15min to remove it, only because i had to maneuver the starter out of the engine bay due to all the factory wiring in the way.
Location of starter- if you open your hood, walk to the passenger side fender, locate the distributor with the plug wires, directly under the distributor and about 6-8 inches to the left, is the starter, it is relatively considered on top of the transmission, though it may be difficult to see if you have a factory air box still.

twentyhurtz

what i would do first is have the starter checked with a multimeter to see if it is getting power.

91akira

How do I attempt this test with the mulitmeter? Thanks

szczerbanator

Coil in the distributor for sure... Its a cheap fix, and constantly goes bad on acuras.

98gsrintegra

i had the same problem and my battery ended up being bad and shorting out

91akira

It was very hard to get to the bottom bolt. I tried for an hour then brought to the mechanic and pay the 80 dollar labor charge. Rats. I watched him and he looked like he struggled to get it out too.

I noticed the old starter is the original OEM. Wow it lasted for this long. Man I hope this rebuilt one will work for a long time. When I start the engine the starter has a short quick whine sound. He says that normal. Ohh well.