The plastic piece on the clutch neutral switch (the one that disengages the starter when the clutch is not pressed) broke yesterday, but even after replacing it, I am getting nothing when turning the key.

Anybody had that switch fail completely, and, also, is is possible to jump the switch with a paperclip? I had the plug off of it and it does look it could be jumped. I am also wondering how to conduct a proper test on the switch. Right now, I am having to park on an incline and pop the clutch to start the Accord.

 

There are 1000 threads on this, but yes you can jump the switch, replace it, or bypass it.

 

Thanks. Yep, I searched lots of info. Couldn't find anything specific about jumping the connection though. I did pull the gray plug again and jump it with a paper clip (good contact) but it had no effect. Something else is wrong.

I have confirmed the starter is good by power it directly. Not sure how, but I really think the no-crank issue ties into the clutch safety switch. I parked the car, came back 15 minutes later and key turn does nothing except power everything up. The ignition position has no effect. I found the little plastic pieces on the floorboard immediately and looked under the dash and confirmed that the switch plunger was going straight through the hole where the plastic thing was. I rigged it with some tape and a dime

Where is the Starter Relay located? I have read it is under the dash, but also that it is in the interior fuse box. Is it a fuse-like thing or a larger module?

 

 

Thanks.

I found the Starter Relay fuse #9 under the fuse panel need the floor board, but he fuse is good. Tomorrow, I will look for what you mentioned. I guess that 25 year old clutch safety switch could be bad, but since I jumped it, and still got nothing, I feel like I am getting closer to the ignition switch being the trouble. I remembered that the key got stuck in there a couple of times recently in the AC position, and I had to jiggle it to get it out. All of that is original on this car. I tried jiggling the key on this trouble, but getting nothing. Not a peep out of the starter. Completely dead. So, like you said, there is another relay I must locate, and then try to test the ignition switch. That is all new to me, but I will search here.

 

In the 2nd position (3rd if you count the null position) on turning the key, I hear the fuel relay click, and all of the dash lights stay on. I suppose the switch could still be bad, but the symptoms aren't a good fit.

 

 

I put current direct from the battery to solenoid, and it moved, but I only left it connected a half a second in case the starter solenoid might be damaged by the direct current coming through jumper cables.

I have a multimeter. On the parts I need to test, is the audible portion of the multimeter to test continuity, enough, or must I test resistance too? I don't have a test light, but need to get one.

I want to put current to the starter by putting a jump wire on the proper terminals of the Starter Cut Relay plug, which I now know where to find under the dash, but have no idea which connections to join. I think it is a crisscross pattern, but can't find info on which ones. The main relays in these cars have had so much focus over the years that all of the information keeps leading back to it, but I still think the rubber piece on the clutch pedal caved while I was cranking the engine, and did something to that starter cut relay. But as others have said in various threads, that relay simply doesn't go bad.

I might stop by an Autozone and get them to test the starter if I can make arrangements to get going again afterwards.

 

What I did to test the ignition switch is check voltage at each wire at the different key positions. One or two will be hot at acc (probably blu/wht and wht/red), two will be hot at "on" (probably blk/yel and yel), and another should only be hot when turned to "start" (blk/wht). If this looks good, then move farther downstream, to the starter relay perhaps, and probe the wires there. If it is bad, you will get 12V on the (blk/wht?) wire going into it one way with key turned to "start", but nothing on the same wire coming back out of it.

If you are getting 12V at the ignition switch but not going into the starter relay, then you have a problem in your fuse panel.

 

I have to figure out which wires on my starter solenoid are which so I can see if voltage is getting to the starter solenoid. I can see three wires.. two big ones and one small one. I tried grounding the multimeter on negative battery terminal and probing the connector for the small wire, setting it for 20V, and got nothing when turning the key to the start position. But I don't think that small wire with the spade type connection is the right one to be testing. It looks like it comes from the other side of the car, but it might just be a ground or go somewhere else. On a typical 4th Gen. Honda starter, which wire on the solenoid is the 12V coming from the ignition?

I ruled out the clutch switch thing. I wasn't even thinking about it right. Unlike the brake light rubber thing, when the clutch one goes, there are no symptoms, except your car can be started without the clutch pressed in. Pressing the clutch in is designed to release that switch, not press it. I'm not really sure when that rubber bumper might have broken on mine. The pieces of rubber were on the floor, but they might have been there for weeks.

 

Just read on an old thread that that little spade connector wire is indeed the signal from the ignition switch, and I can confirm that there is NO voltage there with the key fully turned. It seems like the 25-year old ignition switch has finally given up the ghost.

I know how to make the connection to kill the airbag, but for a moderate DIY'er like me, is installing a new ignition switch likely in my acumen?

 

I don't know how to check the 12V at the ignition switch, but I do know the switch was acting up when I got stranded the other day. Hard to turn, and then getting stuck in the start position. That had happened one time last year too. This is probably something I should have fixed a while back, and saved all the trouble I'm having now.

 

 

I feel that too. The diagram on the wiring harness for the back part of the ignition switch is sort of cryptic, but I'd probably better pull that cable from the fusebox and check continuity on each position. I still need the car so I can't pull that part out and bench test it. Gotta be done on the car.

What still bothers me is that in no key position do the dash lights flicker or go on and off. Jiggling the key does not cause any change in the lights. They are on all the way through the key turn, but I went back out and tried it just now and noticed that after releasing the key, the lights still stay on (CEL, and all) and the key does not return to where it should be for normal driving. But I don't know if actual ignition must happen for the key to return. So many things you never pay attention to until stuff breaks.

Anyway, I suspect that the back part of that switch (the part with the wires running to the fusebox) has blown up, including the spring that is inside of it, and is not really making the right contact anymore, despite making the dash light up.

 

I wasn't able to solve this with a new ignition switch. I plugged the new switch directly into the place it goes near the fuse box and turned it with a screwdriver. It goes through all the "key" positions, but nothing except a single click noise and no crank (at all) when turning it to the start position. So something else is wrong. I did further confirm that the solenoid and starter are fine, but the solenoid is not getting the 12-volts from the ignition system. So I've got a break in the chain somewhere, and it happened suddenly, a week ago.

If the ignition switch shorted in some way, but did not blow a fuse (I checked them all and they are good) what might it have messed up in that system. I have been trying to find information on the Ignition Relay, but it is sparse. I did read here that it hardly ever fails. I wonder what the single click I hear when turning the ignition switch to the start position is. It's definitely an electrical click.

I had to try the new switch off of the steering column because I have not been able to get the original one out. Same thing with the key cylinder. There is a lot of stuff in the way that prevents easy access to the screws that retain it. That cylinder is most definitely fouled. Yesterday, I had the key out, but the ignition was in Position II, with dash still lit up. I was able to put the key back in and make it catch whatever its supposed to and turn it to the off position. I can see all the things I need to manipulate to get that lock cylinder out, but can't get to them, and further disassembly of all the stuff that surrounds it is beyond my skill level. The books are nice, but they don't tell you what stage of disassembly you are looking at photos of.

I will have some better tools, including a small offset Phillips screwdriver to get the old switch out, and some really long pointy needle nose pliers to perhaps turn the cylinder retaining screw from the side just enough where it no longer grips the lock cylinder. But there is no way to get a screwdriver on that switch. I can get to the spring loaded retaining pin with my 90° pick or a small Allen wrench. Drilling the current lock cylinder is also possible, but I want to avoid it. I don't want to have to buy that whole assembly, and it's possible I wouldn't be able to find one for this Honda.

 

Installed the new lock cylinder today and got it working smoothly, but that wasn't the reason the 12-volts wasn't making it to the starter solenoid.

When this first happened, I found the broken pieces of the pedal pad thing on the floor, and immediately noticed there was one missing on the switch that is right there in easy reach. I thought that was the trouble. Turns out that switch is for shutting off the cruise control when the clutch is pressed. I don't use cruise control on this car very often, so I don't know how long that little piece has been gone. I recall pushing the cruise control button about two years ago and nothing happened. I just forgot about it because cc is not important to me on this car.

This broken pieces I found on the floor, damn near 10 days ago now, came from the clutch safety switch that the starter voltage runs though. I had never paid any attention to that switch (didn't even know it was there) and the piece that disintegrated was put in at the Honda factory in Ohio.

I took the drivers seat out and crawled under there but cannot see any clear way of replacing that pedal stop insert. It is not just in a hard to reach spot, it is in an impossible to reach spot. I can't even see a clear way to rig that one up temporarily. I read in the Civic forum about some screwdriver tricks to install that switch, but that won't work on this Accord.

I read in a lot of threads about taking the clutch pedal assembly off in order to replace that switch, but cannot find any instructions on doing it. Does anybody have the instructions or a link to the procedure Honda recommends for CB7 cars? I don't want to take something apart that requires special tools to reassemble.

 

 

These things and the brake light switch stoppers fail all the time. I just use the push style bumper clips to fix it. Just push it in the hole and forget about it.

 

Yeah you're right. I felt around up there and it almost seems like the hole where that grommet needs to be shoved into is completely surrounded by by steel. One person on the Civic forum reported being able to tape the grommet to their finger and then somehow reach the hole and shove it into place. But theirs are built differently. On mine, I haven't been able to even see the other side of that switch (the part that has the button on it) but if there is a way to reach around it, perhaps I will find it.

Tomorrow, I'm going to unplug and take off the rectangular-shaped, silver metal box. That has been in the way since the start. Then I can get to the plug on the clutch switch and pull it off and jump it. I put a new grommet in the cruise control switch, so I have cruise control... nice, when I'm having to roll start the damn car ha!

Later I will figure out how to fix the clutch grommet properly by taking off the clutch pedal assembly. I have the OEM grommet ready to go.

 

Across many Honda's, they sure do. But I'm the original owner of this Accord, and the brake pedal grommet cracked up in 2013 after 20 years, and this clutch one lasted 25.

I was back under there and I think I see the opening on the bottom that others have mentioned being able to reach that grommet holder hole through. No way my hand, or even a finger will go in there though. Perhaps a screwdriver with the grommet mounted to it--the installation trick others have mentioned. But I cannot get my head far enough under there to see what the orientation of everything is up in there. A mirror helps, but the orientation of the image in the mirror is hard to make much use of. I fully understand why Honda advises taking the clutch pedal off to replace that stop pad for the switch. It is in the way.

 

I believe it's easier to roll a piece of tape on itself and use a small screw driver to stick the pad to. I had to replace the stopper pads on my civic (like 4 years ago when I owned it) if I recall correctly the clutch has 2 pads and the brake pedal one. If your brake stopper pad fails your tail lights don't shut off.

 

Thanks. If I can get a clean shot at that hole I will try that. I saw lots of comments about that procedure on the Civic forum. I still haven't been able to get an eyeball on what moves when the clutch is pedal is pushed in. Once I can see the little plunger going in and out, I'll have an idea if there is any chance of me reaching the hold that the grommet sits in and depresses the plunger. The safety feature is a good one and I'd like to restore it.

 

Gave up on trying to replace the grommet without taking stuff apart. My neighbor helped me remove the clutch pedal assembly. That switch, and the cruise control switch, was on what we took out of the floorboard, so the grommet was easy to replace.

Putting the clutch pedal assembly back in was challenging. The cotter pin and the main spring are hard to work with under there, but it worked out.

I did try jumping the connection for a couple of hours, but a paperclip didn't work. I had a pre-wired 4-inch, forked terminal connector in my box and just clipped a prong off of each side and shoved the remaining prongs into the switch connector. She fired right up. But I couldn't get comfortable with the safety feature defeated on the Honda, so I got back under the dash for some more struggle.

Hats off to those who have seated a new clutch switch grommet on these CB7's, without disassembling anything. And I can also now fully understand why so many bypass that switch when the grommet fails. Thanks for all the help and advice on this thing.

 

Congrats on getting it fixed.

I can see how some don't want to lose a "safety" feature, but I've always had the habit of starting my cars in neutral anyway.

 

Thanks... and same here. I push the clutch in by pure instinct. But sometimes I have to let others drive the car. When I get it inspected, for example, they don't really road test it, but they won't let me drive it into the bay. Since those guys mostly start automatics all the time, they could jump in mine in first gear and turn the key and take off, possibly injuring someone or damaging another's property. I endured the hard fix for peace of mind, and to protect my insurability. Surely the jumped switch would be discovered if an accident happened, and I was involved in a liability claim. I think Honda may have located that switch in such a hard to get to spot to make it hard to mess with.

My regret from this ordeal are the days I wasted messing with the cruise control switch, when it was not the issue. When I found the grommet crumbs on the floorboard, most were right below that switch, so I thought that had to be it. Had I known the switches under there like I do now, I would have saved a lot of time. As for the grommet on the cruise control, I don't know how long it as been gone, but I must have vacuumed it up several years ago.