lxaccord51oxl

I have a 4cyl 97 accord lx with 230k miles on it. This morning tried to turn on the car and it would not turn on. The lights, radio and a/c all turns on with normal power. It does not make any noise (clicks or cranking) when trying to turn the car on. Could this be the starter? I've tried hitting it couple times, still no luck.

Changed few months back-
- altenator
- battery
- timing belt + water pump

thejoker1993

Check your valet switch!!

gary95H22Accord

main relay

accordin 2 me

Have someone hit it while you crank. Do you hear the fuel pump prime? Are the terminals on the battery corroded? Could be a lot of things.

lxaccord51oxl

Battery is still new so no corrosion. I took the starter out and brought it to the local autozone to get it tested, it PASSED. So now I need to figure out the problem. gary95H22Accord where is the main relay and how do I test it to see if that is the issue? Thanks.

Note: Few times up towards the day my car would not start, I could here the car having trouble/slow issues when starting the car.

lxaccord51oxl

I have a video if this helps.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qf7N9oXPzfo

tim73

Do the lights dim when you turn key? I assume the engine doesnt turn over at all? If this is the case, then you may just have dirty battery terminals. Loosen the terminal, and clean both the terminals, and the inside of the wire lugs. Also, if you have access to a volt meter, check the battery for 12V.

lxaccord51oxl

Nope the lights do not dim when i turn the key. Yes the engine does not turn over at all. I've checked the battery terminals already and they have little to no corrosion on them. Also I've done the voltage meter check on the battery and it's at 12.4-12.5v.

tim73

Find the starter relay, see if it is getting 12V? If it is then its probably bad, take it out and test it.

gary95H22Accord

Sorry to hear that you had to take the starter out. The main relay is located under the steering wheel in a brown box, next to the cruise box. Instead of unbolting it, just use a screwdriver a pull the board from the box. Honda's suffer from poor solder points of old electrical items in heat and cold. Pull it out and check the solder points. Mine were pretty cracked (they expand when hot and lose continuity). Resolder should work fine.

lxaccord51oxl

After figuring out that the starter is still good, this morning i reinstalled the starter, battery, intake and radiator hose (i had to take these off to get to the starter). But before i reinstalled the starter, i made sure to clean both terminals (small one + the one connected to power battery) Both had slight buildup on it maybe from oil. Also cleaned the terminals on battery which had some grease from before when i installed the battery (there was no corrosion). So i went to start the car and it CRANKS!! It did not start the first time, but the second try it STARTS!!! So there it is, saved $$ on trying to replace unneccesary parts, all i had to do was clean some terminals. The thing is that it still have a slight lag when turning over, and it sounds dry when starting. Thanks everyone that helped and hope this will help others as well!!

nus_dogg

Glad you got it to work!

tim73

havent had to deal with it too much on hondas, but fords are notorious for battery terminals. In fact, sometimes the corrosion will travel up the wire, and will prevent good contact, even though the terminals are clean.