Lately, when I try to start my 2002 CR-V (manual trans), I hear a sound...almost like an electrical squeal or buzz...and it sounds like it's coming from behind the instrument cluster. At the same time when I hear this sound, I have the clutch pedal down and the key in the cranking position but the engine isn't turning over. When I release the key and pedal to try again it normally cranks over but sometimes I need to do this two or three times to get the engine to turn over. This is not a grinding noise because when the engine finally turns over everything sounds perfectly normal.

Could this be a sign of the starter or starter relay going bad?

The car has about 133k miles on it and has a replacement starter from the previous owner. It spent the first 20ish years in Texas so it saw extreme outside temps.

Thanks in advance!

 

Starter

The aftermarket replacements don't last long.

 

Thanks, that was my initial guess as well because out of all the Hondas we've owned I've never had to replace an original OEM starter.

So…what is the noise that I hear?

 

I wired out the clutch switch on mine. The noise may be from the switch, so I'd try that first. Starter went out on my 2002 Civic Si. It's a bitch to replace; I took the intake manifold off and went in from above. Doing it from below like the manual says would have been impossible.

I put in a Bosch starter. I've had good luck with Bosch products in the past. The only OEM starters available were rebuilts which may have been ok but I didn't want a rebuilt. I kept the original starter and may rebuild it myself. It's been six months, so far no issues.

Good luck. Hondas are not made with maintainability in mind; in fact, they are damn near impossible to work on. If you decide to replace the starter yourself learn some new cuss words first, you're gonna need them.

 

I just found this Service News article #A990503 dated May 1999. I wonder if this would apply to my 2002 even though it was published in 99 for the first gen CR-V?

 

I would guess that it’s a relay behind the driver kick panel. There’s plenty of fuses and relays there. Probably one is on its way out?

 

I did a lot of reading yesterday and found a lot of forum posts mentioning the bulletin I posted above.

Many of these posts discuss replacing the ignition switch, shown in the image below, as the fix to eliminate the noise even though the bulletin says to turn the switch faster.

The switch shown below is supposedly located on the left side of the steering column underneath the trim cover.

What do you guys think?

Note: the P/N shown in the snippet may or may not be correct for my 02 CR-V (manual transmission).






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