Hello, I am new to this forum and started an account for an issue i am having and hoping somebody here has an idea of whats going on. I can not describe how much i would appreciate guidance.

I replaced the starter in my 2017 Accord 2.4l CVT. Not with just one starter, but three different starters. I thought the first two were faulty and just swapped them out with the warranties.

When i turn the key to start, the starter ENGAGES but does not crank. I checked for voltage drop from the pos bat to the starter and there was almost no drop. I checked voltage from ground bat to starter, it read zero when cranking. The solenoid drops from 12 to zero when cranking.

I wired a jumper from the starter to the bat ground and it made no difference.

After 12 hours with a volt meter and google searches i cant wrap my head around this issue. This is my last attempt at figuring out what would cause the starter to ENGAGE but not crank.

Any help would be incredibly appreciated!

 

This is your problem.

You need to figure out why its dropping to 0V. You have a large voltage drop occurring.

(Im assuming you're testing at the solenoid power wire. If you are testing at the solenoid signal wire, it should read 0v at rest and 10+v while cranking)

 

Thanks for the reply! I managed to figure out what was happening.

After i couldnt figure out what was going on, i called a mechanic in to come looks at it. He tested all over and couldnt find a fault anywhere, so he thought the new starter was bad or the engine was seized. I told him i already cranked it by hand and it was not.

Anyways, i decided to test the resistance between the battery and the starter and it was 3 ohms. What i discovered was that the cable was corroded under the terminal on the contacts area of the cable, but not the terminal itself. "Invisible" so to speak. After cleaning it up, the car fired right up. I ordered a new terminal and am going tomake sure that doesnt happen again.

 

This is a fairly simple, straight forward issue for a seasoned technician.

I commend you for figuring it out, however I would find another "mechanic" more proficient with basic electrical testing, for your future electrical issues.....

 

Dually noted!

I was pretty close to havong it towed to a shop. A couple mobths ago a tree at work got struck by lighting and my car plus three other coworkers were parked next to it. All of our cars got a dose of its glorious impact. It blew the rear view mirror off my car! Anyways, their cars wouldnt start and had similar issues to what i was looking at. Their ECUs were toast. They had to have them replaced, however, my Accord started and deove like a champ.

I was thinking that maybe i did take some damage, but it didnt totally kill it at that time. Luckily that was not the case.