Yuta

My little civic gave up on me yesterday. I went to gas station for snacks after spending about 2 hours on highway, then the car won't crank. I can only hear "clicking" sound, I think it is from some relay under dash, not the starter solenoid. Towed the car home.... I thought the starter gave up.. ordered new starter, main relay, distributor cap online immediately... however today I found out that the starter is ok. I took off the signal wire for the starter solenoid and feed 12V positive to the terminal on the starter,, it cranked! and the engine started~!! This means the starter and solenoid are OK, 12V power to the starter from ignition key is cut off somewhere.. This is a more complicated issue than I thought... I measured all fuses I can found on the car... they seem to be ok... (I measured fuse terminals by multi-meter without taking fuses off)

Anyone know what is going on???

Will the main relay be the problem? It was hot after driving for a while and it was a recently replaced part (by dealer before I bought the car).. If this part has problem, will the electric power flow from ignition switch to starter be cut off???

Yuta

Update.. Problem kinda fixed...

I jumped starter cut relay. Jumped the white/red and black/red wires on the socket. It starts, only thing is the clutch pedal is bypassed.

I think it should be ok, battery won't be drained.

Here is my understanding, correct me if I am wrong:
The starter cut off relay functions as a safety switch while starting. When clutch depressed, relay coil is energized and thus contact between starter solenoid and ignition switch is closed, and therefore you can start your engine... If I bypass this relay, I can start engine whenever the clutch pedal is depressed (safety feature lost, but I am ok with it).. however it is not going to drain battery (I think).

Please see if I am correct.

I also have a question regarding the small relay under dash of radio area. It has nothing to do with starting. Every time I turn ignition switch, the relay coil is energized and making a clicking sound. After I jumped starter cut relay, I removed this relay and I found I could still start engine without this relay... It maybe a blower relay? If it has nothing to do with starting, why it engages during starting? It confuses me...