Romodavid15

Ok, so I have a 1996 civic with a b16a2 swap. The car drove perfect until I drove to my friends house and shut it off. Once I tried turning it back on, it wouldn't even crank. My first impression was the fuses, I checked every fuse until I came across the ignition fuse which look burnt (40A). I changed the fuse and it fired right back up. I turned the car off again and tried turning back on and again, no crank! Everything lights up, all the fuses are good, I hear the fuel pump buzzing.

I also push started it twice to get it back to my house and everything ran good. Once I shut off the car, it wouldn't crank again. Everytime I turned the key, all I heard was clicking.

Could this be some sort of ignition problem? I know the person who last had the car, changed the ignition once on it. I'm not sure what to do with it.

Any ideas??

94EG8

I'm thinking either bad starter or bad solenoid. Get someone to hold the key on and give the starter a couple of taps with a steel bar and see what happens. IF you tap it and it cranks over the starter is going bad, if that doesn't do it look into the solenoid.

Romodavid15

I will try that as soon as morning breaks.

What exactly is a solenoid though?

94EG8

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Romodavid15 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">What exactly is a solenoid though? </TD></TR></TABLE>

A solenoid is basically a relay. light gauge wire is run from the ignition switch to the solenoid, there will also be a large wire coming from undhood fuse panel and one going to the starter. a low amperage current is sent from the ignition switch to the solenoid where it closes the contacts inside and allows power to go from the fuse panel to the starter. I really don't think i explained that very well at all. but essentially it uses low amperage current to close a switch that high amperage current flows through.

Romodavid15

I got the gist of it. Thanks for all the help

Ill keep updated.

v8 integra

did u check ur battery..alternator...grounds? check your grounds to see if their loose or they have rust...and if i were u..i woudl take the ground bolts off and wire brush them just to make sure they nice n clean.. hope that helps

turkeyslow

Same thing happened to me. Check your Tranny to chasis ground and make sure its clean and bolted securely.

Syndacate

I may be just firing off blanks in the dark here, but uhh, which fuse was it?

Probably just the starter solenoid though (get a new starter, or get yours tested).

Though that shouldn't blow a fuse - so like I said, find out what fuse it is. It's probably an open starter ground or something if it's eating the fuse each time, but not affecting the spark so you can drive.

Romodavid15

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
did u check ur battery..alternator...grounds? check your grounds to see if their loose or they have rust...and if i were u..i woudl take the ground bolts off and wire brush them just to make sure they nice n clean.. hope that helps </TD></TR></TABLE>

The alternator looks good, the battery has power (we tried jumping it) and from what I can see the starter and the valve cover ground is good. I'm not sure where else there are any grounds?

Romodavid15

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
Same thing happened to me. Check your Tranny to chasis ground and make sure its clean and bolted securely </TD></TR></TABLE>

That is where?

Romodavid15

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> I may be just firing off blanks in the dark here, but uhh, which fuse was it?

Probably just the starter solenoid though (get a new starter, or get yours tested).

Though that shouldn't blow a fuse - so like I said, find out what fuse it is. It's probably an open starter ground or something if it's eating the fuse each time, but not affecting the spark so you can drive. </TD></TR></TABLE>

I pulled the starter off today and tested it, and its a good starter.

The fuse that blew was 40A, ignition fuse, (I think) The ground on the starter is secure and rust free.


Modified by Romodavid15 at 5:00 PM 8/19/2008

Romodavid15

I'm not sure where to go next, can anyone help me locate the rest of the grounds?

Romodavid15

bump? I need to fix this thing =\

sageuvagony

Does it work every single time you push start the car? If it does, then that's weird.

Romodavid15

It does push start everytime. The funny thing is though, it doesn't push start going forward. Me and my buddy pushed up to like 30mph and popped out the clutch in second and nothing it would just stall. But, it DOES start while going 5-10mph in reverse! It is very weird.

Either way, I still need help!

Romodavid15

Hey guys, I'm still stumped.

sageuvagony

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Romodavid15 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">It does push start everytime. The funny thing is though, it doesn't push start going forward. Me and my buddy pushed up to like 30mph and popped out the clutch in second and nothing it would just stall. But, it DOES start while going 5-10mph in reverse! It is very weird.

Either way, I still need help!</TD></TR></TABLE>

WTF!!?!?!?! Anyway free bump for you for the posessed car.

Romodavid15

Thanks man

Syndacate

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Romodavid15 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">It does push start everytime. The funny thing is though, it doesn't push start going forward. Me and my buddy pushed up to like 30mph and popped out the clutch in second and nothing it would just stall. But, it DOES start while going 5-10mph in reverse! It is very weird.

Either way, I still need help!</TD></TR></TABLE>

That's some crap if I've ever heard it.

You're probably not clutching fast enough when pushing it forward. If that's really the case, then your trans is so [freak]ed up it's not physically possible to drive it. The idler gear reverses the direction of the reverse gear, opposed to the other 5 - all gears turn the engine in the same direction, regardless of what gear it's in. It's NOT physically possible to have a fully working transmission and have it pop-start in reverse, but not a forward gear. You must be mistaken, or your transmission sounds similar to that sound that your engine makes when you blow all 4 rods at the same time...I'm not sure exactly what that sounds like, but that's about what it would sound like.

In any event.

If it's push starting fine, then it's a starter problem, it IS as simple as that. I know older starters have a separate solenoid than the actual starter, I think the newer ones are cramped together though, so testing the starter may not test the solenoid (somebody that actually knows how the starter test works will have to confirm/deny this). Though either way, that won't blow your fuse. Your fuse is blowing from what's called "infinite amperes" - it's what causes fuses to blow. This happens when you have an inappropriate ground some place and the discharge becomes at an infinite rate (theoretically governed by the wire) - the most delicate part is the fuse, which blows. If it wasn't for the fuse, the wire would catch fire and the connection would break because of this.

You have a wire that's grounding out prematurely. Find out which parts are on that one fuse, and trace the wires, it's your only bet.


Modified by HybridcivicLS-T at 11:17 PM 8/21/2008

Romodavid15

I will try my best to look tomorrow. If I find nothing, I will look into trying to hot wire the car to see if it is an ignition problem.

I know I might be somewhat of an annoyance, so I'm sorry. But, thanks to everyone who tried to help me out with this.

Greatly appreciated

sageuvagony

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Romodavid15 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I will try my best to look tomorrow. If I find nothing, I will look into trying to hot wire the car to see if it is an ignition problem.

I know I might be somewhat of an annoyance, so I'm sorry. But, thanks to everyone who tried to help me out with this.

Greatly appreciated </TD></TR></TABLE>

Not an annoyance at all, just really amazed at your car for the way it's acting. Your ignition switch is ok right?

Romodavid15

You mean the fuse? Yeah it looks good. A buddy of mine told me to change the main relay which is located under the glove box. I'm getting a new one tomorrow and I will see what happens. If the same thing occurs, I will proceed to hot wire the car to see if the actual ignition is at fault.

Ill keep updated.