Ok, picked up an eh9(4wheel disc brakes and abs stock) with gsr swap that was thought to have a rod knock (started up to verify knock) for a hellova good price. Got it home and found the flywheel bolts were loose. replaced crank, flywheel and bolts. Put everything back together, refill fluids and connected plugs. Went to start...turn key, main clicks, fuel pump primes, cel and abs lights on then off. turn key to start and doors unlock, abs light comes on and just clicks.

Checking connections i notice the VSS was wobbly. Pull up and the top come out broken. My questions is would VSS cause abs light to come on and make car not start? All other connections are fine besides the purge cut solenoid filter which wouldnt normally cause car not to start.

 

No crank, right? Did you connect both starter wires?

 

Never removed starter wires, just ground. Double checked and yes connected.

 

The starter grounds locally on the transmission, so it doesn't have a ground wire attached to it.

 

Searching for a new or used vss now, but in the meantime ive removed and cleaned pretty much every electrical connector on the trans side. Ive inspected the abs system and cant seem to find anything out ofvthe ordinary. When i get home, im going to take a video of what its doing to give everyone an idea of what im talking about

 

A bad VSS should cause an ABS light. But....doesn't explain why it won't start.

Does it crank? Is the thermostat ground connected? Is the starter spade terminal properly connected? Is the trans-to-body grounding strap bolted in?

 

^What?

OP - Dust off your multimeter and check whether the starter motor and solenoid terminal get battery voltage. Also check for continuity between the starter body and the (-) battery terminal.

 

Ok once I get home Ill see what voltages im getting. Would a bad starter cause the abs light to come back on and doors to unlocked when going to engine start?

 

^^^no it doesnt do anything but unlock doors. and yes the thermo ground is connected as is the spade terminal and body ground.

Like said before, it started before I pulled trans. Only thing that is different is the vss filter(top portion) broke

 

Nope

 

Test voltage to start and im getting 12v when key turned to start. opened the vss and the little pin that goes into the slit isnt there. ordered a new one so hopefully that will do something

 

Is your trans to body ground strap on there properly also? If it IS connected, Check resistance to battery ground from the trans casing. If you don't have a multimeter, be a ghetto genius. Connect a jumper cable from the trans case (the aluminum part or a bell housing bolt) and connect the other end to battery NEGATIVE. Then try and start the car.


Does the car have an alarm?

 

Hmm.... Try tapping on the starter with a hammer. If the solenoid is in-fact getting 12 volts then maybe something is wrong with the starter. If you had another civic starter handy I would try that.

 

Ok, got the starter changed and the wiring from starter to pos side of battery terminal swapped and finally got it to start. Started a few times with no problems. Drove it around to make sure everything was ok, parked and went to start again to check idle surge and no start.

When key turned to II, main relay clicks and fuel pump primes as usual. When turning to III(start), main relay clicks and fuel pump continues to prime until key turned back. Only thing I removed was gauge cluster to see why Speedo, fuel and temp gauge don't work...tach works just fine. Verified that everything I touched was connected and still same issue.

Any ideas?

 

Bump

 

Whats your battery voltage? VSS throws an abs light??

 

Battery is 12.1 when i checked. As RONJ stated and after double checking by starting with out it plugged up, ABS doesnt come on

 

Ever get around to checking and bypassing the trans to body ground strap?

 

Yes, cleaned contacts and moved to different spot and it started up fine, minus idle surge. Drove it around the block, not mashing it, parked and let it idle a bit. Shut it off and went to start her up, i got the problem above. im going to pull the ignition apart tonight and see if anything is jacked up around there.

 

Try bypassing it with the jumper cable method. The fact your gauges are malfuctioning points to that ground being incorrect.

 

thats trans ground directly to negative post on battery right

 

Yep

 

You serious? So you basicly left the starter intact and remove the tranny without removing the starter wires to replace a flywheel? BADASS.

 

x2 what a pro

 

sounds to me like there could be a loose ground somewhere. check the ground distribution block on the right upper apron.