B18C_EJ8

My mother's '08 Civic EX developed a problem yesterday where she couldn't shift into gear from park.

Against my advice to wait until tonight when I could look at it, she dropped it off at the local dealership that is well known for screwing people... They called her this morning and were asking questions about the remote start I installed last winter. The car is under warranty (only 26K miles), and of course that's the first thing they go to.

She had me call them, and they said that they really haven't looked at it yet, but noticed that the remote start was interfaced into the ignition & brake wires (duh, of course, just like ever other remote start on the planet)... I told them that I'm no hack throwing starters in with t-taps like a lot of local outfits, and that I'm an MECP certified installer, blah blah blah... The starter has worked fine for a year, and the car has driven fine since the install. I almost busted out the Magnusson-Moss Act, but figured I'd wait and see what they come up with.

I know for a fact that the starter's installed properly (done hundreds of remote starts in my time), but not sure what the issue could be with the car. I found a recall for '06's about bad brake switches but nothing so far for newer civics.

When she dropped it off last night, the service tech mentioned that he's seen this before, but never on a Civic with 26K, which would indicate that there's a known issue, but they're trying to avoid a warranty job.

Any thoughts on what the problem could be? I mean, the starter could have died & backfed a ground into the brake switch rendering the interlock inoperative, but what are the chances of that? It's a DEI unit, and I installed the same unit on my wife's '10 Accord a couple of months before I did my mom's, and the Accord is fine...

av911

Does the horn AND the brake lights work? Check fuse #12, under hood, it's for "Stop and Horn".

Happened to me once when I was trying to bypass my security system in my car. It blew that fuse and was able to start the car, but can't shift out of PARK and the horn and brake lights didn't work.

B18C_EJ8

It was indeed the fuse...

Could have saved a whole crap load of aggravation & time if she had just let me look at it last night.

Thanks though.