So I've been having this issue with my CRX that has basically kept it from being driven for a few months now because I can't go out and have to worry about if the car will crank or not. I believe its something under the dash.

Ive stuck my hand down there and wiggled random stuff before and its cranked. Might be coincidence I dont know. I suspected it was something to do with my shitty car alarm so I took the alarm out today (which is why some wires arnt covered in the video) hoping it was a wiring issue there.

Well I took it out and it's still doing this weird thing. Check out the video and you can see what I'm talking about. Anyone know what I might be?

[youtube]96AGtH9nNl4[/youtube]

 

Main relay?? Try a new one the solder joints in them brake and get weak over time. Main relay controls the fuel pump and ecu...

 

its not the main relay. thats the first thing i tried.

 

from my experience when main relays start going bad you can either crank the car or you cant, theres no in between.

 

anyone?

 

your hacked up wire harness looks terrible to me. Id start there resoildering and heat shrinking all those connections. Sounds like the timing is off to me

 

You can always crank it with or without the main relay. It doesn't affect starter signal. I would look into the ign switch, maybe its not getting or keeping 12v when the key is in start.

U can unplug the small signal wire on the starter, turn the key to the "on" position, n manually give the starter 12v (if you dont have a power probe, use a wire) You will jus be bypassing the switch. If it cranks over n starts, then look into an ignition switch problem

 

k jus watched the video again, @ 00:11 it sounds horrible, sounds to me like the starter my not be engaging/disengaging fast enough, or possibly binding. That can happen if its loose, or there is a problem with the ring gear on the flywheel, or is the starter is just junk.

I could be wrong guys, but thats just what it kinda sounded like to me

i 2nd the timing possibility. Also, solder that isht wire for wire, 1 @ a time if u have to, but FIX that harness asap! Mine looked like that when I got it n seemed to work fine, no clock tho, but 1 day I was like "sweet, just the clock fuse is blown" I put that fuse in, walked to my tool box n back n the harness had caught on fire. All cuz I was too lazy to fix it cuz it seemed like it wasn't an issue.

You never know, maybe it'll fix or help with your problem

 

I know the wiring and I am going to clean it up. I said in the post that it was temporary.

@Icon_Ed6 thanks for the advice, I'm going to try what you mentioned today when I get off. I got a feeling youre probably right about the ignition switch.

The starter is basically new so that gets ruled out. Ill clean the harness up and test out the ignition switch then report back.

 

Again, only cuz I've seen it happen... Since u said starter is fairly new, double check that the long 14mm bolt that goes on the bottom is there n the starter is tight & aligned correctly.

I'll check back in on my lunch 2c if you have tried to directly power the starter wit the key on yet

 

well, the first thing I'm going to do is clean the wires up so I bought a new soldering iron this morning. I'll up this thread again when it comes in and I clean the wires up. It'll probably be a few days.

 

did you at least try to manually engage the starter wit the key on to see if it starts up? U dont need tools for that, jus a wire

 

So I fixed the wires. checked if it would crank better, and it didn't. So I went to do that auto start trick you were talking about and noticed part of the starter holder got chipped and the plug was a little loose. I ziptied it tight and whala, its perfect. Thanks.