Blk00EJ8

Ok, here goes. I was attempting to fire up the new swap with an auto-5 spd swap this evening. For reference, I have grounds on the following points (its a circle grounding system):

chassis - neg battery terminal
transmission - neg battery terminal
starter - neg battery terminal
thermostat - neg battery terminal
intake mani - neg battery terminal
valve cover - neg battery terminal

I also did the following wiring for the auto shifter, per Luserkid's writeup:
https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1337459



So basically it went like this. Key in, fuel pump primed, turned key, power seemed to be draining somewhere as if car was starting but no starter, no noise at all. Alright, duh, idiot mistake, I actually forgot to ground the starter. So that's grounded now, repeat...

Key in, fuel pump primed, turned key, power again seemed to be draining, but still no starter or noise, and this time my 40 amp ignition fuse blew. Weird...

My thoughts:

The starter works, I tested it even after this.

The clutch switch wiring I made works. Tested with a little 9v battery so it does switch on/off when depressed/released.

It's highly possible the wiring for the auto-5 spd swap is off and is causing a short. However the colors match up to Luserkid's writeup. But I've seen other writeups for other years with different colors. Mine is a 2000 and I believe his writeup is a 97 so same gen. The colors all seem to match up in the pics.

I have to get another fuse but I need some ideas on how to fix this. Anyone?

Andres-eh2

my brother had an issue with this. using a test light we were able to determine the problem. There was a piece of wire exposed in his harness coming through the firewall that was grounding on the chassis causing the problem.

Luserkid

From the sounds of it i would guess dead batt. Try taking out the clutch switch (even though it works) and connect the thick wires together (for the moment forget about the blk/blue) and see what happens. It should start up right away but i think your looking at a dead batt. try a jumpstart.

Blk00EJ8

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Andres-eh2 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">my brother had an issue with this. using a test light we were able to determine the problem. There was a piece of wire exposed in his harness coming through the firewall that was grounding on the chassis causing the problem.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I'm not even sure where to start with this one... if this is the case

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Luserkid &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">From the sounds of it i would guess dead batt. Try taking out the clutch switch (even though it works) and connect the thick wires together (for the moment forget about the blk/blue) and see what happens. It should start up right away but i think your looking at a dead batt. try a jumpstart. </TD></TR></TABLE>

The battery i used was actually jumpered to another running vehicle's battery when I did the initial tests, and came back with nearly 14 volts. The car didn't start while jumped.

The situation with blowing the fuse happened with the battery by itself too, so apparently it's providing enough current in just the wrong place.

Blk00EJ8

I realized I should elaborate some more...

When I tested the starter, I used the same battery as when I blew the fuse, and it was not jumpered. I would think that the battery had enough to at least turn the starter when I turned the key since it turned the engine over when I wired it directly to the starter.

Blk00EJ8

Bump for some ideas

jtchinoy

I don't remember Luserkid's auto-manual writeup mentioning clutch switchs... do you mean the 2 on your clutch pedal? sohc4life96 told me they didn't even connect those

sicones

you say you grounded the starter, there are 2 wires that go to the starter, 1 thin gauge wire thats from the ignition switch and one huge heavy gauge wire that goes directly to the battery positive (+), I hope you didn't put this big heavy gauge wire to ground, there is no ground for the starter, it grounds itself through the transmission housing

Blk00EJ8

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jtchinoy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I don't remember Luserkid's auto-manual writeup mentioning clutch switchs... do you mean the 2 on your clutch pedal? sohc4life96 told me they didn't even connect those </TD></TR></TABLE>

Well you don't have to but I wanted to maintain the same level of cautiousness as a stock vehicle would come with. just run the ignition switch through the clutch pedal switch and the line is cut unless the clutch pedal is down.

Blk00EJ8

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by sicones &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">you say you grounded the starter, there are 2 wires that go to the starter, 1 thin gauge wire thats from the ignition switch and one huge heavy gauge wire that goes directly to the battery positive (+), I hope you didn't put this big heavy gauge wire to ground, there is no ground for the starter, it grounds itself through the transmission housing</TD></TR></TABLE>

Hmm, I have the thinner gauge from the harness to the starter switch and the thicker gauge directly from the battery. I have the transmission ground on, but I guess when I come to think about it, grounding the starter as well would account for the blown ignition fuse. Oops, stupid mistake there... did that one late at night

So anyway, the starter was still not turning over before without that extra ground. I'll have to check to make sure current is actually making its way to the starter.

ChadB

It sounds like you have a short some where in the wires.

Blk00EJ8

Indeed... need something more specific than that

Blk00EJ8

Alright, bump this ish.

I replaced that blown fuse. I also took off all the grounds except for the transmission ground in attempts of getting the starter to turn over. Still nothing. Ugh, I gotta start at the ecu I guess and work away from it...