I have a '93 Prelude, Automatic, and it will no start. The night prior it was running with no problems, starting just fine. I woke up this morning and tried to start my car, and noticed an immediate problem. The things a that I notice are:

1) When I turn the key to ignition, i hear the engine make a click and i can hear something running from my fuel injector to my motor.

2) Also, when turned to ignition, my cars parking break light comes on ("BREAK").

3) When turned on, my cars drive light D4 is on as well as the Park light on my dash.

Stereo and lights all work fine. I tried jumping it anyway but that didn't solve the problem. I looked at all my fuses and I noticed that it was missing the "ABS Starter Relay" (not sure if it was there before though, maybe someone stole it?). The car is also going on 213000 miles. I'm currently have almost no money, and would like to solve the problem my self. If anyone has the slightest idea as to what could be wrong I'd appreciate comments.

 

"BREAK"?? Your car is smart. It knows that something is broken!!! (it's spelled, "brake". )

Anyway, if you try to jump start the car, it still will not start? Sounds like possibly a bad alternator. Even if your battery was dead, it should still start if the alternator is working fine.

How old is your alternator?

 

make sure you have no battery acid buildup on the terminals, and that they are securely connected....

 

Clearly sounds like a amperage issue. Battery, terminals, wires, etc... When a battery goes bad, weird oddities do happen. Your battery may show sufficient voltage, but it may not be able to pull the proper amps to start.

I've replaced seemingly good batteries with new ones and electrical oddities went away. I would check the alt too.

 

I'm not sure how old it is. As far as I know its the stock alternator that came with the car off the asembly line 11-12 years ago. Is there a way I can check if its bad, aside from bringing it into a shop? And how could a bad alternator keep it from starting at all, if my battery is fine and a jump wouldn't work?


Modified by bafflednub at 9:23 AM 9/27/2005

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by bafflednub &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I'm not sure how old it is. As far as I know its the stock alternator that came with the car off the asembly line 11-12 years ago. Is there a way I can check if its bad, aside from bringing it into a shop? And how could a bad alternator keep it from starting at all, if my battery is fine and a jump wouldn't work? </TD></TR></TABLE>

It's simple. The alternator is the device that generates the power needed to charge the battery and run all the accessories. The battery ONLY stores power to start the car. If an alternator fails, the car will run off the power of the battery until the battery no longer has enough power to sustain the power requirements of a car once it is running.

If an alternator doesn't work, and you try to jump start a car that has a pretty much dead battery, the car will not be able to stay running very long, if it will start at all.

I am not saying that it is definitely the alternator. It could be something else, however, the alternator is more likely to be the problem.

If it turns out to be the alternator, and you need a replacement, let me know. I have one available.

 

Who was it that said, all things being equal, the simplest explanation is usually the right explanation.

Throw a voltmeter on there and test the juice while turning over the engine.

 

I would have done that already except I don't have a multimeter

 

sounds like a bad battery as stated, its pretty easy to check the alternator once the car is running... which brings me to my first point

 

Alternators have nothing to do with starting. Even if you didnt have an alternator on the car, hook up 12V to the car, it will start and run. At that point, it just runs off the battery. The alt is just there to replenish the battery. if you jump the car and it starts then it could be a battery or an alt problem. a good way to tell is: while the car is running, disconnect the positive batt terminal and see if it dies. if it does then the alt is bad.


neil