OK, i been having troubles all winter with this car (90 civic dx with mpfi) I took it to honda and got it working. I drove it home and parked it in the yard. Everything seemed fine. But today i go out, turn the car on, and flick on ym headlights. The cluster shuts off and the car dies on me. I tried boosting it and still nothing. The battery light seems to stay on ALWAYS. even when i take the key out. What could it be?? everything you can say will help!!


[Modified by 90CivicDx, 10:25 PM 4/2/2003]

 

first thing, why are you parking the car in your yard? driveway full?

second...have you checked your battery?

 

haha well, my driveway is dirty and has grass on it.. so its a yard! lol

i am checking the battery

 

sounds like a shirt have u messed with anything besides the MPFI wiring...if not then ur wiring is grounding out to something good luck i had the same problem before when i swapped dashes and had a short in there.

 

main relay????
check that.. its know to be faulty on older hondas went bad on my ef and eg

 

main relay was just fixed!

umm, wouldnt it be weird that ti worked for a day then just stoped??

could ti be the alternator?

 

Alternator only does something when the car is already on.

What about the starter? Does the car power up when you turn to accessory positions or is their no power at all?

When I did my battery in trunk swap car worked fine the first day. Next day car was dead. Somehow there was a short that fried my starter. I replaced that and got the car to work. Without the starter there will be no turning of the distributor so no spark.

 

i can bet u $10 bucks if u check ur ECU its flashing a code 20 witch its Electric Load....

i tried for 2 weewks to find it without any luck
all i can tell u to do that helped me to fix it is:

take all ur GND's and grind them... sand them.. polish them.... whatever works to clean them, make them shine, make sure all ur gnds get full contact to metal.... the ones on ur batt. chassis, tranny, thermosthat, and even those lil white boxes behind the headlights against fender(thats whact actually was ******* my car up)

 

theres no power what so ever!!

just the battery light! but if i move the postive terminal some, i get my dome light and deck to come on! arggg one thign after another!!

 

sounds like your trminals are bad, if you can mkove them then they are loose. take them off and clean them with a terminal brush, the put them on a TIGHTEN them. your batt. could still be good, btu alot of times loose ends will drain a batt.

 

well i get in the car.. and NOTHING.. no horn, no 4 ways.. nothing works at all. Not getting any power to me, but even when i try to boost the car, i still get the same thing. no clicking or lights or anything. Sometimes when i remove the postive and put it back and get in, my engine light comes on like normal then goes out. NOthing after that

This is ticking me off!
i am charging to battery, i might go buy one tonight and see if thats it or not. But my starter wont even click over.

 

Electricity is a strange mistress.

As important the positive connection is, the ground is more important. It is possible that corrosion on any connection to allow some power yet not enough to supply enough to start the car.

Try this.

Clean the connections at the battery terminal thoroughly. Auto parts stores have brushes for this. Get some baking soda to neutralize the acidic build-up. Once clean, apply a light coating of grease to prevent further corrosion. KEEP THE TERMINALS DISCONNECTED UNTIL COMPLETE WITH THIS PROCESS.

Next follow the negative cable to where it bolts to the body and then moves on to the transmission. Clean these connections as well, especially the transmission one. I had a CRX sir that would only start when it rained because that connection was loose and only make a connection with moisture.

LOOSE CONNECTIONS DEVELOPE CORROSION!!!! Remember that.

Next follow the positive. It runs to the starter - clean this connection well. Look at the strarter signal wire, single small wire with a connection at the end. Is it in good shape, connected with no corrosion?

The positive also goes to the fuse/connection box above the passanger side shock tower. Make sure that is secure and not corroded.

Now, hook the battery cables back up and fire up the car.

One other step I have taken is to add some extra ground wires from solid points on the body of the car and the engine/transmission. I have actually heard about increased performance from this.

 

thanks for the advice! i'll do that after college is over today and let you know. Also going to get a new battery. Hopefully its not a starter or/and alternator

 

Seriously... I had this problem on my current beater... it ended up being the negative battery terminal.. spent 2 bucks, replaced it... car starts fine.

I had the same symptoms you described to!

 

good reply buzz kill. make sure your terminals are tight. you should NOT be able to twist them any. it sounds to me that the damn battery terminals are just loose.

 

man i was reading another post on here .. guy having problems like me, they said check ignition switch, check starter, gournds.. man there was a list of things! lol

 

also, while you are checking everything, you should buy some bigger guage wire to replace all of the grounds and buy some connecters. All the grounds on your car are very, very small. If you upgrade to bigger wires this will increase performance and most likely gain some HP.

Me and my friends have done this and noticed a difference. Best part is everything costs like 20-25 dollars.

 

OK i did all that! everything looked ok, i sanded down the grounds, replaced the valve cover ground with 4 gauge, ran two 4 gauge ground wires from negative to frame and one starter. Now that still didnt work BUT i tried to boost it and i left my dads car running with everything connected from the batteries. I came out 5 minutes Later and i heard a ticking noise inside. I opened the door and i heard the door buzzer, but really low and died out. Sound liek a battery?

soon i am just going to replace the starter, battery, and alternator!

 

Before you buy a battery. Try this.

Disconnect the batter terminals and hook up the positive jumper cable to the positive lead (KEEP IT AWAY FROM ANY OTHER PART OF THE CAR!) Hook up the negitive battery cable to the place on the transmission where the neg cable bolts on.

Now you have taken the battery out of the whole equasion and you will know once and for all.

If it still doesn't start, if the light don't light up, you possibily have a cable problem.

 

Hey man, listen to Buzzkill, that **** works. If your getting anykind of response from ******' with the cables at the battery, then I think you might need new cables and a battery. Simple as that.

One of the Honda guys might have fucked with your battery setup and not tightened it back up or something like that. That could explain why it died a day after being in the shop.

 

I can look at it sometime if u want... u knoe where I am

 

haha thanks guys!

man your on every website arent you ??

yah i'll try what you guys said and let you know. Weird, after 4 hours not touching it, i went outside and in the car. turnt it to the on position and went to start and it had JUST enough power to start.

 

go through and check all the grounds if that doesnt do it try the wiring if anything is loose tighten it if anything is off put it were it goes and make sure there are no cut or burned wires check termanals and battery if that doesnt work im all out of ideas

 

OK now i am pissed! i swear if i have to pay 45 bucks and 65 bucks to get it to Honda and checked again! i am going to go nuts!!!

I bought a new battery., guess what... did absolutly nothing. Like this makes no sence to me at all!!

I have no power going into the car, no accesories no nothing. i tightnened all the terminals. checked all the fuses. i bet its the starter, but even at that, still doesnt make sence to me why nothing works inside the car

 

Is the ECU pluged in???? Thats all I can think of.