Hello everyone, I'm just passing by to ask you guys about a 88 civic dx that i just purchased it has the 1.5 engine 5 speed.
The car did not run when i bought it and it was missing the steering colum battery and acouple of sensors so after puting everything were it belongs i go to install the battery and go into the car and the dash lights are on like the oil light battery light and check engine ligth also the temp neddle wen al the way up and i hear a buzzing noise coming from withing the dash board I go and turn the key into the ignition on position and the oil light and battery stay on so i go to crank it and nothing so i check power coming out of the harness to the starter and i get 12 volts but when i go to the starter i get a ground singal inted of power. I tried feeding power to the starter and it turned over but very slowly.
But i think that all my problem lay withing inside wiring below dashboard but where should i start looking? why are the dash warning lights on when key is out and where is that buzzing sound coming from? is the buzzing sound from the door being open? also i do not have the fuse cover for inside the car those some one have a link for that.

Sorry for all the questions but this is the first civic that i owned, and i'm sure some one here has had this problems before.
Thanks for your help.

Danny.

 

well, not to point out the obvious.. but it seems like you have a serious short somewhere, or a chassis ground is not in place. if your dash lights are on and the power is off, you may have a broken ignition switch and some fuses that are not the correct spec, probably cause the previous owner was blowing them, so decided to just put higher amperage fuses in there.

first, check your grounds, before anything else. look at all the chassis grounds from a manual, and check that each one is intact.

then check your ignition switch. there is a test sequence you can go through to test your ignition switch. i would suggest checking that before replacing it, because it is an expensive part.

another place to look is the main relay. if it has failed mechanically, it may be stuck in a power on position and could be causing the crazy dash light stuff you are seeing.
this part you really cant test, AFAIK, but you can resolder it yourself and test the joints. otherwise a new one can be purchased for around $60.

one last thing to check out would be the headlight and indicator assembly on the steering wheel. they are most likely NOT the source of the oil light anomaly going on, but its worth it to check just in case. again, an expensive part, but something for which a test routine exists for, and is worth checking out. good luck.