Hey all, new here, this is my Honda I have owned for about 3 months now, I am coming from the truck world
Work on cars all the time, but this one has me stumped.
Car is a 1994 Accord coupe
F20B swapped, with OBD1 and a H22 5 speed trans
It has a new battery, new starter, and new battery terminals

Issues:
Randomly it woulden't start one day, just a "click" and then nothing. Got a jump and it started fine, drove to walmart and exchanged the battery (only 2 months old) but they did not check to see if it was bad or good, just swapped it.
Okay, so new battery ---> the car was fine, started and drove and shut it off probably 5 other times during the day including a 1 hour trip without incident. Went to the store late at night and come out to another no start. A guy jumped me in the lot and it was fine.
Drove to a car meet 2hrs away the next day and it started throughout the day a couple times. Parked it at home and the next morning, a no start. So I had my friend jump me while parked, it fires up fine. Drove it around to see if the issue persisted, and whenever I shut it off it has to be jumped.

So currently:
Today the guy at autozone checked the battery with the fancy checker or whatever, and everything showed fine except the starter. So I grab a new one and installed it tonight, still nothing even though the battery shows fully charged on my battery charger box.

In summary:
It can be jumped started always
It can be started by popping the clutch always (had to do that to leave autozone)
Usually will not start after shutting it off
When attempting to start, it will "click" once, loudish, and then everything will shut off (all accessories) and when you take the key out and turn it to accessory mode nothing happens (it is as if there is no battery at all or something) - wait 30 seconds to a few minutes and it will let me try to start it again, then "click" and repeat.

Seems to run great when jumped etc, idles fine
I am stumped and really need this baby to drive to work
Starter relay? Where is that located and will a local auto store have one?

 

wild *** guess: loose ground or sketchy main relay.
bad engine coolant temp sensor can cause hot no start isse but seems less likely.

Starting Problems

 

So I fought this issue for a number of years. Seems to be becoming a more prominent issue as these cars age. If the car was originally automatic and swapped to manual, check the neutral safety switch wiring on the old auto shifter harness. Otherwise, leave the car out of gear and see if you can jump the starter solenoid from the post where it connects to the battery with a piece of wire. It should turn over, and even start with the key in the running position. I chased my tail for YEARS with the same issue and the only permanent solution I found was installing an S2K push button start with a relay and heavy 8 gauge wire. Since then it has started perfectly every time. Before that I went through so many starters, changed grounds so many times, changed ignition switch, etc etc and nothing helped. I believe somewhere in the wiring that powers the solenoid when you turn the key is able to get frayed or corroded as the cars age and won't send the correct amount of voltage needed to completely trigger the starter. I didn't feel like digging through the dash harness so I never confirmed that.

 

Ugh so more testing and trials tonight. I can no longer really jump start, but I didn't try too much. I can always pop the clutch to start.
Put in a new main relay from autozone, still nothing. Added another ground to the starter, no change, and clipped a jumper cable to the negative and grounded it to the frame.

I would say clipping the cable to help with the battery grounding seemed to help.

Long story short: please show/tell me how you did this S2000 modification.
I will make a video tomorrow demonstrating the symptoms and maybe it will make more sense.

God this car is going to be the death of me. Walking to work really sucks but it's all I can do right now, I really appreciate the responses !

 

I am assuming somthing like this would be a good start?
DIY S2000 Push Button Start Wiring Kit (universal)

 

Just look up how to wire one to a civic. It's the same wiring basically. I bought my own relay and wired it all myself since it was way cheaper. Don't buy a kit that plugs into the stock ignition switch harness as you will still have the same issue if you're getting the power from there. The push button itself gets a switched accessory power, ground, a signal out which will activate the relay. On the relay you will have the signal from the push button, a ground, then power coming in(I used the starter post), then the power out will be going to the solenoid. Both power wires at the relay should be fairly heavy, like 8/10 gauge.

Before you do that, attempt to jump the solenoid from the starter post first and see if the car will start then. Just take a 6" piece of wire, remove the solenoid plug, press one side of the wire to the starter post and the other to the solenoid terminal. Engine should turn over. Just be 100% sure it's not in gear.

 

Thank you for your reply, honestly I didn't think anyone would be able to help me out or reply.

Some quick updates.
I exchanged the battery AGAIN at walmart just in case, and purchased a heavier ground cable and grounded it to a better spot on top of the transmission between a bolt and nut

Okay, so same issue persists
(using my old starer again, I returned the new one I had purchased because I need to save money)
I decided to get in and hold the key in the start position for 5 seconds, and it cranked and started! I immediately shut it off because it honestly scared the **** out of me, but when I took the key out, the starter stuck cranking the engine, so I ran to the front and pulled the negative off the car.

Since then I haven't done anything to it, just going to assume the starting relay is messed up or it could be something with the ignition, and going to do a secondary start. Unless there is a relay that could fix it easily (main was replaced and it didn't do anything though)

These cars have a mind of their own?

 

Update: using old starter, old main relay, and new battery and new terminal and wire for the ground, she will start using a wire to connect the starter and battery.

Screw messing with these relays, I am going to just install a secondary switch. Would love pictures of yours if you have one Aradin

 

I don't have cruise or a sunroof so I ordered a blank plate from a DX Accord from Honda and mounted the S2K button into it. You don't have to use an S2K button really, it can be any momentary switch. The wiring will largely be the same.


This is the basic wiring I used. Except for #30 on the relay goes directly to the starter post and #87 goes to the solenoid terminal. Use heavier gauge wire for those two for best results. I think I used some 8 gauge audio wire. Works fine.

 

Got it, so this relay is just a standard automotive relay?

 

Yup. I think I went with a 40 amp. Shouldn't be more than $10 with a pigtail.