1995
Honda
Civic
135k miles

Seeking assistance with my electrically problematic vehicle. I'll keep this brief and in bullet points:

• Purchased brand new battery; battery connections are all clean, in tact, and not corroded
• Car completely shut down on freeway (scary); initial visit to repair shop revealed a bad distributor, which ended up being replaced
• No electrical problems after that for about a week
• Wife left lights on while at work, required battery jump
• A few days after, car would not start (thought perhaps battery couldn't hold charge?); jumped again and ran for a few days again
• Brought car back to original repair shop as well as the parts store where battery was purchased; they both ran a load test = battery, alternator and starter all passed; repair shop could not find any other problem - car started every time for them
• Car would then start intermittently but with some creative ways of turning the key in the ignition (ignition switch problem?), would eventually start
• Car then ran consistently for about a month with no problems
• Car now does not start again, regardless of how key is turned in ignition; there was no clicking or noise of any sort (engine turning over, etc.) other than the standard beeping coming from the driver side door being open while the key was still in the ignition; I forgot to test headlights
• (New) repair shop is currently looking at everything, but also confirms battery, starter, and alternator all pass load tests

My guess is one of three issues: Faulty wiring, a bad battery from so much electrical trauma (although not sure why it still passes load tests), or a bad ignition switch.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

 

... or bad engine or transmission ground. Easy fix, if it's the case: get in there with a ratchet and remove the ground bolts and clean up the ground on and around the wiring. There are multiple grounds in and around the engine bay.

 

You main relay may be starting to go bad also, itd remove it then open it up and check the circuit board to make sure its still good.

 

Remove the bolts and clean the ground wires ends and the area around the bolt holes to bare metal, engine ground, trans ground, and the battery negative where it grounds to frame. If problem persists, then like stated above it could be a main relay issue.

 

Is the rubber stopper below missing or broken?

 

Ended up being an improperly wired alarm system draining the battery! Thanks for the help!

 

that'll do it.

 

You're not done with this problem.


Your symptoms do not indicate a drained battery.

that or maybe ignition switch.