I've had problems starting, and the issue in a nutshell goes like this:

Integra GS-R with original starter on a non-rebuilt engine.
- Have had issues starting for the past 6 months. Starts 40% of the time.
- The solonoid connects and you can hear it clicking, but no starting action.
- Replaced the battery, didn't fix.
- Had the starter solonoid changed and the [other] starter contacts cleaned (Windings are still the same, but apparently they're okay), didn't fix.
- Installed a new starter relay, fixed... for a few days.
- Knocked the starter with a heavy and blunt... didn't help.

Had just about everything under the hood checked by the guy at BRAE and it turns out that it's all working power-wise, so my hypothesis is that the friggin' clifford alarm is disturbing the signal... OR the windings of the starter are somehow not so great afterall. The alarm chirps 9/10 times when I unlock the car. No luck finding out what that means and Clifford aren't returning my calls....

Any experience with the mysterious starter problems? Should I ditch the system? Can anybody help me???

 

Nope. The alarm controls a relay that is wired inline with your starter wire. When the alarm is armed and there is ignition power, the alarm sends a signal to the relay to prevent the starter from cranking. If this relay was bad, the starter would not crank at all. If the alarm was bad, nothing would happen. The starter would operate as normal.

First, try starting your car when the alarm is armed. If it doesn't allow it to crank, then you do in fact have a start-kill relay installed. Put your hand on the relay and see if you can feel it click when you turn on the ignition.

 

It has remote start, is that what you mean by try to start it when it is "armed" ... haven't tried, but I think it will set the alarm off.

 

I jsut went through this. At least once a day, my car wouldn't start at first try. I figured it was the alarm's starter kill switch. This may be what's going bad in your car. My alarm had 2 brown wires connecting to the alarm box which are for the starter kill switch. I pulled them from the box and connected them togeter. That bypasses the starter kill switch in the alarm box. After I did that, the car started fine. So I took my car back the shop that installed the alarm and they replaced the entire box, which houses the starter kill switch. Its been 2 weeks now and no more problems.

 

Are you firmiliar with the blue screen of death in the windows realm? this is what i'm up against.

so crossing those two wires will not only allow my car to start every time, but it will also allow people to steal my car, right? I will try it out.. What brand system do you have ruffrhyder?

 

I'm having this exact same issue, and as far as i know there isnt an alarm on the car. it just clicks usually when i try and crank it, and sometimes it cranks weak. after a few tries it goes over normally. i have a thread going somewhere else about this issue but i think this site is going to turn up better answers than the other

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by TripleJ &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Are you firmiliar with the blue screen of death in the windows realm? this is what i'm up against.

so crossing those two wires will not only allow my car to start every time, but it will also allow people to steal my car, right? I will try it out.. What brand system do you have ruffrhyder?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Connecting those 2 wires will bypass the starter kill switch. Alarm will still function, just not as effectively. The sirens will go off if break in occurs, but the kill switch will be inactivated. I have a viper
Call whoever installed the alarm or take it back to them. They should be able to diagnose the problem fairly quickly. Good luck

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mattyrocks785 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I'm having this exact same issue, and as far as i know there isnt an alarm on the car. it just clicks usually when i try and crank it, and sometimes it cranks weak. after a few tries it goes over normally. i have a thread going somewhere else about this issue but i think this site is going to turn up better answers than the other </TD></TR></TABLE>


Therefore the possibility still remains that it is not alarm related. Today I found a little red switch, possibly an immobilizer? I'm afraid to touch it... I like driving my car!! So the real issue here is:

The starter relay clicks and it sounds like the solonoid is engaging too... But it won't turn over? If I Roll it a little bit and engage the clutch for a quick second, then disengage (catch and back to the floor) when I have the key turned over, it starts. Therefore the starter is probably trying to do it's job with nothing stoping it. THE QUESTION IS WHY.

I have a theory. I also have a 9 lb spoon flywheel. IS it possible that this flywheel is missing teeth or something along those lines? Is it possible that it is in the starter itself? (windings)

This morning I got in my car, turned the key over and nothing....but then after about 4 seconds of holding it over, presto! ...? So what's this about? Poor wiring? I'm ready to take that alarm out just for the fun of it!

 

Thank you for your suggestion... I really hope the problem isn't there. I did, although, find a red switch in the top of the glove box with two red wires to the starter. Any possibility this would be an immobilizer button? and if so how do I use it to try out my "Alarm vs. Starter" issue?

 

a couple suggestions i had are bad starter relay or something, and possibly the switch that is activated when you clutch, that lets you start the car (and stops you from starting it when not pusing the pedal) might have something wrong with it.

 

Pm the user ''FCM''... he is a member on here who is HIGHLY knowledgeable with all alarms..

He might be able to help if it is indeed something alarm related..

 

triple J, let us know what happens with your whole issue, I'm going through the same exact thing! my car is a 98 gsr, with the same problem.

 

When I took my starter to the top guys in town they rebuilt the solenoid, and tested the starter out in a few different ways - all tests got the green light, no problem. Next they checked under the hood: voltage of the battery, alternator, starter .. on that point, they even put a direct charge to the starter and it worked everytime!

I was lucky enough to have the problem quite consistently, yet the guy couldn't really put his finger on the problem... In the end, he looked at me and said with a smug look, do you want to know what will definitely fix this problem? and ended up selling me a bosch replica starter relay - Didn't work.

Wiring is definitely a possibility, but I'm interested in knowing what you meant by "it cranked weak". Did it spin freely? You hear clicking noises when you turn it over but it doesn't start? I sometimes get ignition if I hold mine over for a few seconds, so it might be something like a relay.... but what? Do you have an OEM flywheel 'Mattyrocks785'?

 

In addition, I had luck when I did some of the following (but no conclusive evidence)

- pump the clutch with the key turned over
- leaving the car for 10 minutes or more
- cleaning all the spark plugs and distributor cap (1 week of starting)
- changing the relay (10 $ and 1 more week of starting)
- when the car is being jump started or in "charge"

No luck with :

Taping; moving the car forward out of gear; yelling/stomping feet

 

check the ground on the tranny. make sure its still good

 

So Sorry, but my macbook has been reduced to a paper weight. Regardless, I have a solution!


For all the people who have this issue, I'd like to take a poll. Y/N: Does the following method work:

Push the clutch in and out (or turn the ignition over a few times) so the ignition engages and disengages. I have had luck to no avail with this method. Therefore it is wiring. I'm going to change some and let you know which one. Hope this helps those who are bump starting their cars in parking lots.. I feel for ya

 

Modified by luv2boost at 9:09 PM 10/28/2008

 

did you try pumping the clutch with the key turned over? It's a high chance that a stock honda cable somewhere comes loose over 10 years. Good thing we're not talking about brakes

 

I"M in for a SOLUTION to this. i'm also getting this gay starting problem with my clifford matrix 3.5 alarm in my 98 GSR. sometimes it wants to start and something it just have, like someone here said "a weak crank." and if you keep trying on cranking the key it'll eventually crank over and start.

anyways, i definitely know it's NOT the grounds, starter relay, starter, starter soilniod, battery, or the flywheel (i have a exedy lightweight flywheel) because i have either checked or replaced the item with a KNOWN working one. however, it'll crank normally for a day or two once it's been replaced for a new item then after that it'll start acting the same.

i also got a viper 791xv (same thing as the clifford matrix 3.5) in my 96 GSR and everything works fine. all the wiring are the same. remote start and everything is hook up on both cars. so maybe later on this weekend i might switch over the brain and test it out for a while.

 

If I'm to hook up a direct current to the starter, it starts (cave man) but very rarely starts the other way. Pumping the clutch works, but the solonoid engages, so everything is working there. Maybe that positive battery terminal cable is a little worn out and needs to be replaced?

 

Can you take a video of this. There could be one of 4 problems. I'll start with the first one. You could have a bad key switch. With a bad key switch, it does not allow a full 12 volts to get to the starter solenoid. Without a full 12 volts it will not activate the starter. Easy way to check is to use a multi-meter. If it reads below 10 volts. Replace the key switch. By the way ur going to need two people or long leads on the multi-meter. This is one of the reason that it starts when you tag 12 volts straight to it. A cheap way to fix is use a relay to fire the starter off the weak signal. But its better to fix it right.

Next you need to check the Starter relay in the car. Its in the driver dash pannel to the left. There should be a black wire with a red stripe and a black wire with a white stripe. Make sure you are getting 12 volts on the black wire with the white strip when the clutch pressed in and you turning the key to start the car. If not replace.

Next check the alarm starter kill relay. Which you should not have on a honda. Especilly on a 5 speed. All a theif is going to do is push start it. But that a diffrent problem then you have now. And needs to be addressed soon. Find the dei starter kill relay. It should be a bosh relay. There should be a orange wire going to it, a yellow wire going to it. And a thick green wire and black wire too. They would be spliced into your starter wire. Your starter wire is black with a white trace. The relay is plug into a relay socket. Your going to Jump 87a and 30 on the relay socket. If you don't know which one it is. You can look under the relay for the number or look at the relay socket and see which plugs have the two thick wires coming out. Jump them and start the car. If it starts up fine. Replace the relay. If you have remote start this is kind of tricky. Dei has two different remote start relay packs. If its the older style that came with the older 791xv and rsx 3.5 it will be a pack of 4 relay clipped toghter. If so use what I said above and look for a purple and green thick wire coming from the relay. The purple goes to the car side and the green to the key side. Pull the relay out and jump 87a and 30 toghter. Start the car. If the problem goes away replace the relay with the same model. Now if its the mini relay pack. your going to have to reconnect the the starter wire back toghter to test. There are no user service parts and it will need to be replaced. If it starts fine when you reconnect it. Then you found the problem. Since dei does not sell these seperately. Go to your local dealer and see if they will warranty it. If not. Pay for shipping and I'll send you one free of charge.

Last problem. Which never really happens is to trace the starter wire for a break in it. If you done a wire tuck or such it could of been pinched.

If you have any other problem feel free to post in the a/v/s or pm or whatever

 

Recently I've had issues with my alarm sometimes a few weeks back the car would die while I was driving I'd pull over try starting it for 5-10 min all the while I'm not getting dash lights and car turns but won't start headlights work radio works heat and ax work but not the windows or windshield wipers. I'm boggled . And now the car has finally stopped starting all together no dash lights at all as of 2 days ago . But up till then if I waited 10 min I'd get dash lights back and it would start. Also sometimes I'd drive fine for a week between random shut offs. I've taken it to two mechanics and they both can't figure it out they say it's the alarm