Empsi

The car is a 1990 Honda Civic Hatchback 5 speed with a 1.5L engine.

The car was my daily driver, until a few days ago suddenly it won't crank. When I turn the ignition switch, the dashboard turns on and looks nice, but when I turn it all the way to crank the starter, the starter does not turn. When attempting the crank the radio dims but the headlights don't dim at all.

At first I thought the starter was bad, but when I bypassed it with a jumper wire, and had the switch on run, the engine turned on and stayed on.

So after the starter checked good I decided to check the ignition switch. I tried to check the wires for continuity but without an electrical diagram it was tough so I went got a new ignition switch from Autozone and changed it and still it woudnl't crank.

I checked my fuses and they're all good but I'm beginning to suspect an open circuit.

My next idea is that it may be that ignition coil but I'm doubtful that that might be it. Regardless, I'll check it tomorrow since it's too dark to reasonably work over here.

I was also thinking about the safety switch on the clutch but then dismissed it because when I bypassed the ignition switch the car turned on. Is it a mistake cross out that off the list?

Any ideas? Suggestions? This is a weird one.

EFmine

Most common no starts on these civics are
Main Relay
Ign Switch
Ign Coil
Igniter
and the obvious, Starter.

Since youve ruled out the starter, and the ign switch....and the car continues to run once jumped, that rules out coil and igniter, and possibly the relay... its possible the safety switch is the culprit, but thats easily bypassed...
Indeed a strange one... always double check main grounds and fuses

Empsi

************Update*************

Thanks for your response man.

I found an electrical schematic and got to work with an ohmmeter.

I connected a wire with an alligator clip to the wire that sends the signal from the ignition switch to the starter.



Then I connected the other end of that wire to one of the test leads of my ohmmeter.



Since the starter fuse was good I decided to check there first. It's the 10 amp fuse one up from the bottom right.



Then i decided to check the female where the male wire harness from the ignition switch goes in.



It was here where the continuity ceased. So would then would it be the fusebox???

Empsi

It ended up the safety bypass switch, I did all that fun stuff with the fuse box and ignition switch for nothing. I ended up just jumping the switch and now my car turns on with a champ and also without having to have the clutch pressed down.