Ok just put a b16 into my 99 civic but after trying to start it i'm stumped. You can turn the key to auxilarly and all the lights in the dash come on but when you go to start it nothing happens everything just turns off. please throw some ideas out as far as what to check

 

is on your Starter...i had this problem...check the small Male connector...make sure its plugged...the one that goes to the Solenoid Terminal

 

grounds.. check them all. (there is on on the thermostat housing that is important)
make sure your battery is tight

 

yes, check the ground and female connector on the starter.

 

battery is definetly tight. starter connected correctly. going to check the grounds tomorrow too tired/ late tonight. does someone have a diagram or picture of were all of them are?

 

grounds are on the tranny, thermostat housing and valve cover...im tellin you...check that starter cable because it may look like its on but not be makin contact...i had your prob and thats what it was.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by B18CivicEg &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">grounds are on the tranny, thermostat housing and valve cover...im tellin you...check that starter cable because it may look like its on but not be makin contact...i had your prob and thats what it was.</TD></TR></TABLE>


thats what it is

 

alright i will look just to make sure. will let you know how it goes tomorrow.

 

make sure you double check everything including fuses

 

alright all fuses are good. here are the grounds i checked lmk if i missed one. tranny, thermostat, i think there is one on the starter, negative battery cable, ???. does it matter if my ecu is just sitting in the passenger footwell?

 

i still think its in the starter yo...did you check the plug??if you look at this pic, on the right image, check the Solenoid Terminal on your starter...try to jump it and see if it turns on..get like a Wire an tap that solenoid to the battery...your prob was just like mine and thats what it was...the plug wasnt making contact...it would slide off the terminal cause it was opened too much..

 

Couldn't it be alternator or battery, cuz when he turns the key everything goes off. Maybe the battery has enough power to turn on the auxilary lights but not enough to turn the starter.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Tzarinque &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Couldn't it be alternator or battery, cuz when he turns the key everything goes off. Maybe the battery has enough power to turn on the auxilary lights but not enough to turn the starter.</TD></TR></TABLE>

well...dont know...when i experienced that prob..thats how i fixed it...everytime i would try to crank the motor...everything would just turn off and i wouldnt get any power what so ever after until i unplug the battery and plug it back on, then same thing would happen...found the prob was that wire on the starter..

 

Try checkin your alternator for power. My sisters civic had the same problem kinda of... dash lights would go off and the only way to start was to jump start it. Turned out to be the alternator.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by EM1_ChRiS &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Try checkin your alternator for power. My sisters civic had the same problem kinda of... dash lights would go off and the only way to start was to jump start it. Turned out to be the alternator.</TD></TR></TABLE>

thats because her alternator wasnt charging the battery...thats why she would need a jump start...

 

ya the alternator isn't the problem. btw it's a brand new battery just went and got a new one last night at wal-mart (gotta love their 2 year warranty). ok i am going to take a closer look at the starter... solenoid terminal

 

plug wires are in the right order?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by si937 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">plug wires are in the right order?</TD></TR></TABLE>

yes. the car won't even crank though all lights just turn off when you turn the key to start it. haven't checked starter had to go to work.

 

alright starter is defiently hooked up correctly now i heard something new. when i turn the key and all the lights go off, this wierd clicking sound keeps coming from my ecu/ passenger side footwell area. any ideas?

 

starter might be bad?

 

check that main relay above your ecu? Is it plugged in?

 

Okay definately starter! If it wont crank its the starter. Like the guy above said its the black thick wire with a white stripe. Im sure its not contacting or the starter is bad. To test if it is bad disconnect the wire. Take a long wire. Place one end on the starter male end and place the other on the positive battery terminal while the car is in Neutral and in the ON position. The car should start trying to turn over until it does. If nothing happens you might want to take a wrench and tap on it. It could be frozen if the motor has been lying around. If none of the above work then the starter is bad or the grounds arent connected. Especially the thermostat ground.

P.S the alternator is only bad if the car needs a jump start and wont stay on.

Also check your starter fuses if there is one. Which im pretty sure there is.

 

IT's ALIVE! turned out to be a bad starter. (borrowed friends). but it didn't end there i also had a bad distributor. ahh well it's running now. thanks everyone who kept saying it was the starter

 

 

I'd pull the starter and bench test it. You may have turned the power lead too far and in which case its grounding itself.