I apologize if this is in the wrong forum, but I need some help here.

I have a 1998 Honda Civic Ex 1.6L Manual. It has 170k miles on it. Recently I had problems with something. It happened three times. I will get into the car, turn the key on. The lights come on, heater, radio, etc.. just normal. I push the clutch and the brake in, and go to turn the key.... and ALL power goes out... doors, headlights, brake lights, radio, dash lights.. imagine not having a battery hooked up.

Then when i turn the key back, take it out, put it back in.. nothing.. dead as a corpse. I cant find out what is causing it. One thing I noticed is that when i put the key into the on position.. my dash lights are very very dim.. and as soon as i push the brake in, or turn on the headlights, or do anything that involves power.. they go out completely.

We checked the battery during all these times.. reading 12.3-12.5v. I had it load tested 2 times and it tested good. We just took the starter out, had it rebuilt, put it back in. After 3 days of sitting and a new starter.. it went back to the start where it seemed fine, but i went to start it to see if the problem was fixed and boom.. dead again.

We replaced a ground wire, checked fuses, made sure the battery terminal connections were tight, new starter, checked the ignition relay. We replaced the ignition coil and distributor and roter a few months ago. Its almost like something is shorting out.. but what.. where? Anyone else have this problem?

It has to be electrical. But what would cause the lights to go out. We managed to get the car started by hitting on the starter.. two days ago.. thus we got a new one.. now that just adds confusion. It wont jump either. I checked the ignition switch for continuity and it all checked out.

I guess its time to junk it?

 

You possibly have a bad hood fuse box. Use your multimeter to test whether some or all of the hood fuses lack battery voltage. You might do the same for some fuses in the dash fuse box.

 

Alright, I did check all the inside fuses for continuity but not voltage

 

Sounds pretty difficult. A suggestion, I would rip all non-essential fuses out to eliminate all the accessories during diagnosis (for miscellaneous battery drains and the like).

Just to be sure, does all the power go out after turning the key to 'start' mode, or pushing in the brake and clutch?

 

Oh, a potentially useful test that occurred to me. If you remove the "starter cut relay" and turn the key to 'start', do you lose power?

Logic, if you remove the starter cut relay (in so doing, you will not be able to start the car) and you still lose power, then you know the electrical problem is likely to be in between the starter cut relay and the ignition switch. If you remove the starter cut relay and you do not lose power when turning the key, then the electrical problem is likely between the starter cut relay and the starter. Should help pinpoint the issue.

 

I suggest using the helms manual to test the of ignition switch voltages. The sounds like a ignition switch issue.

 

Hey guys! thanks for the input. I believe we solved it. We replaced a ground wire and the other ground wire apparently was bad. We were able to jump it by bypassing it.Something simple right.. ha

 

Help other members reading this thread by specifying which two ground wires were replaced.

 

The negative terminal goes down and connects to the body.. then there was one that connected from that to down near the starter.. thats the new one we put on. I was not here when they did it. It was pretty much the one from the neg. battery to the body I think. We just replaced both ones near the starter/air cleaner.

One connected infront of the starter to the body near the air cleaner. The other one, the bad one is running from in front of the battery to near the starter somewhere.. i cant see the end of it cause my air filter is covering it..

 

first one:


second one (black cable going from left to right in front of batt):