I know I said I would leave HT, but I got a serious problem and I dont know where else to go for an answer, so if you guys could please help me out I would greatly appreciate it!

Well my car is a 1996 honda civic DX.

I started having this weird issue the other day. My car was working fine I went inside my friends house for about an hour came out and car would not start, didnt click over or anything. The radio and lights and windows were all working fine. I tried jump starting it, and nothing. I checked the fuses, there are fine. So we push started it so I could get it home and it started up. Then after I got home and turned it off it wouldnt start up again. About two hours later I tried it and it started up just fine.

It was working for like two days just fine. Then today I drove to work as usual got off and tried to start my car and NOTHING! It did the same thing. So I had my dad come get me and we decided it wouldnt be smart to leave my civic at my work overnight (theives) so we went back and were going to push start it again, but it fired right up no problem!

So does anyone know whats happening here? This is really scarry because what if I get stuck in the middle of nowhere?

 

sounds like a possible main fuel relay problem, as far as i know the 92-95's have a serious problem with them. If yours is an early production 96 there is a good chance that is your problem.

I'm not really sure how to test them, being that it's an intermittant problem. i have run into this several times however and even on my sister's acura vigor i replaced the main relay and the problem was solved.

the part from honda i believe is around $70

 

i have a 2000 civic and it does the exact same thing


to the point where it stopped working nearly everyday, i replaced the starter out of a 2000 civic that started up EVERYTIME.

a week goes by and its fine, but now im having the problems again

like at the gym today, it wouldnt start and i was about to walk to a friends house when it started up 10 mins later...

 

It's strange because the car was working fine and I drove it for like 5k miles with NO issues, I did do a couple things mabey it can help you guys narrow it down.

I put new spark plugs and cables in recently, I got them from the honda dealership.

I installed some ebay fog lights and connected them up to the fuse box.

 

you know what, i didn't even think of that^

next time it doesn't start, take a hammer and a long 3/8" extension(doesn't have to be exactly that setup of tools but just so you get the idea) place one end of the extension on the starter and tap on the other while someone tries to start it. if it starts up there's your problem, replace the starter.

 

What would make a starter go bad? And if it was bad wouldnt it never start at all? Not just start sometimes. Also a jump on even a dead battery should start it up

 

starters are something that can be fine one minute, and bad literally the next.

and typically when they go bad, you experience an occasional no start, rather than an altogether no start condition.

 

Could it be my battery? Like it has enough juice to turn the radio and light on but not enough to start the engine? But then again if that was the issue why would it start sometimes? Wouldnt it never start.

 

i might also be having an issue with my alarm too
i think the occasional no starts happened after an add-on to my alarm was installed so it wouldnt start up if the alarm was going off
because i actually was trying to start my car for 10 minutes with nothing, put my hand on that specific wire and moved it around and the car started up immediately after.

 

Yeah thats what im thinking too! I think it's my alarm, because sometimes my alarm will make my car not start. Also there is this little chip under the steering wheel that if removed will force the car to not start, im going to remove the alarm and chip ASAP.

 

re-solder your relay
http://techauto.awardspace.com/mainrelay.html

 

I have a 93 EX and had the same symptom for about a year and it was the main fuel relay under the dash. I heated up the solder joints (as mentioned above) and haven't had the issue since.

 

sounds like starter or main relay. good luck bro!

 

i had problems like this, turned out to be my alarm...

 

Guys I believe I fixed the problem (knock on wood)

I had a mechanic rip out that stupid chip kill switch thingy today at work, he cut and rewired some cables and it seems to be running like a champ so far! That stupid chip was attached to a box that said "made in taiwan" on it, I bet it just went bad, i'll update if it decides to start acting funny on me again, thanks to all for your answers!