This morning I tried to start my car and nothing happened. It had been running the night prior. Everything else electrical worked but the car wouldn't even crank. It didn't even make a single or a series of clicks at the starter. I tried several times and checked my battery, fuses grounds and any other connection that i could think of. I hit the starter a few times with a hammer thinking that it was stuck but that didn't seem to help. When i finally got it to turn it started right up but I don't know what I did if anything to help it. My only two things that I could think of were either my starter or main relay are going bad. Does anyone know how to test these so that I am not throwing money away for false security or have other things that I could check? The car is a 96 prelude SI with H22A OBD I swap that was performed a few years ago. Other than that it is mostly stock.

Thanks

 

You can test the starter by grounding it out. Use a screwdriver or something similar to touch the hot lead to the body. MAKE SURE YOUR CAR IS IN NEUTRAL if you have a manual. If it doesn't roll, it may be your solenoid. I'm assuming all your lights and everything come on. If you've done any recent work that you change ANYTHING with your electronics, especially coming off of the battery, I would check to make sure all the grounds are grounded and make sure none of the power wires are grounded.