clarity

Any educated suggestions or guesses on the following would be much appreciated. Also the more details you are able to offer, the better. My Chilton manual does NOT have any detail in this area. I have not figured out how to get the cover off the relay/fuse box and Chilton does not tell you. I’m trying not to do the guerilla thing to my car.

96 Accord LX with manual transmission and about 235K miles. Has been serviced regularly since new. Intermittent starting problem has come and gone for about 3 years. Was very infrequent but is now a problem about 20% of the time. Weather does not appear to be a factor. Battery is solid and a jump start will NOT WORK because the battery is fine. The local shop I have used for years changed out the starter twice. That had no effect. The clutch safety switch can be heard engaging each time I press the clutch peddle with the ignition in the start position. Also, with the ignition switch on, all normal panel lights come on, fan, lights, etc… work fine but NO TURNOVER AT ALL. Does not even try to turn over. I can push start and pop the clutch when this happens without a problem. After push start often starts with ignition switch without a problem other than becoming a more frequent problem in general. I do have a car alarm that was installed by the dealer. Tried disabling the alarm with a button that comes with it for valet, etc…. Same intermittent start problem still exists.

A local parts guy suggested the Starter Cut Relay but my Chilton manual only points out the general location and I am a novice so I am not doing well at figuring out which relay it is and how to remove/replace it. He also suggested maybe the cable from battery to starter could be offering too much resistance/voltage drop. I look forward to your input.

fleetmack

electrical portion of the ignition switch?

hondadude

to Prove if the relay/ignition switch is putting thru power you can get a cheapo test light and connect it to the small Black/white wire at the starter solenoid. Then watch to see if it lights up when cranking.
I understand how it goes trying to "Catch it in the act"
Here is some more info to help you .



Picture didn't scan well but should give you you idea

clarity

First off, thank you to fleetmack and hondadude for your responses. I am more used to working on computers than cars so it is taking me some time to get oriented to the manuals and figuring out how to get to the test points and relays, etc.... That is not stopping the "no start" symptom from getting worse. Is there a place in the 1379 page 1994 Service Manual or the 280 page 1996 Update to find practical, down to earth procedures to test and measure? Otherwise, I will just keep familiarizing myself with the material.

My biggest challenge is that I have no help so far so I am trying to do this alone. I'm still figuring out how to test the electrical portion of the ignition switch. Hondadude's idea of the cheapo test light sounds like it might work. I need to pick one of those up to try it out. Both of your suggestions, I believe, will work for me without another pair of hands.

I have an additional observation when the problem happens in addition to a new problem symptom. The observation is that when I turn the ignition key to the start position, I do hear a hum. It is NOT a click. It is a hum. It will hum as long as I hold it there but only if the clutch is pushed in. In addition, my latest symptom which may or may not be related, is that when I push started the car today, the check engine light came on and it is on always now when the car is on. In addition, after it first came on, if I went over 3000 RPM, the engine would cut out completely. It did not die at all, it just cut out. As long as I up-shifted and kept it under 3000 RPM, it drove fine. I went somewhere for 30 minutes. When I started the car the next time (it did start that time) the check engine light was still on but I did not have the 3000 RPM limitation at all. For what it's worth. I will keep plodding along since I must have a car that I can count on. I do not have that now. Thanks again for your thoughts. Hopefully, my being such a novice is not a problem.

clarity

OK, call me slow but I have wanted to provide the final solution to this for the benefit of anyone who has this problem. Please forgive the LONG delay.

I found an awesome mechanic and this is what I learned:
The problem, as some suspected but I would not consider, was my starter (for the THIRD TIME). My new mechanic explained WHY. My former mechanic shop would only provide rebuilt starters rather than authentic Honda parts due to the price difference. The problem is that rebuilt starters are a BIG MISTAKE. For some parts rebuilt is OK but NOT for starters. They are under too much torque in starting the engine and rebuilts just don't have enough life left in them. Rebuilts tend to have a very short life compared to Honda starters. My former mechanic used to have a one year labor and forever warranty on their rebuilt starters but NO LONGER. Now, they only offer one year both parts and labor. Why? Because rebuilt starters suck putty *****. Anyway, my new mechanic explained that the rebuilt they "gave" me because I was "grandfathered on the parts warranty" will die at some time (like within a year or two) and then he can replace it with a genuine Honda starter that will last 120K or more miles like my original starter.

There you have it you wonderful people. Thank you again to those who helped with your feedback and suggestions. Not enough time in a day so I will probably not be back until the next problem I have but, as you can see, I could not stand NOT sharing the final answer for my fellow rebuilt starter sufferers. Have a great day!!!

lightningd

wish i could have seen this sooner. i had the EXACT same problem, except for the engine light thing. the way i knew it was the starter is i had someone inside the car holding the key to start position, and i was in the engine bay with a ratchet and smacked the **** out of the starter. soon as i hit it, it would crank right up. i'm not sure exactly what this does, but my dad was an old school mechanic and i remember him doing a similar thing when i was a kid. i too, went through 3 starters.

pittsf

I've been looking for this diagram! Do you know if it's close enough for an '88 Accord Coupe with manual transmission?

Car won't start, intermittently, but starter turns over the engine. Had the same problem with our '91 Accord and it was the clutch switch in that case, but the Honda dealer couldn't be sure until it failed while in his shop!

Thanks for the diagram.