hey guys... yesterday i was leaving barnes and noble and i came back to my 1991 crx HF and it wouldnt start.. No clicking, or anything, It wouldnt do anything. The lights, radio, and all dash lights work correctly, so i figured it wasnt the battery.. how all do i go about checking the starter.. I heard that maybe one of the 2 wires may have gotten disconnected.. is there anyone that may have a pic of the starter or HOW to get to the starter.. thanks guys

 

I assume you are talking about 4th gen Civic. The starter is just below throttle body. There are two wires connected to the starter one has a 12mm nut (main power from battery Positive) it should have 12 VDC all the time. The other is a small gauge wire with a female spade lug. This wire provides the 12 VDC start signal from the switch in the "start position. If you have 12 VDC at both these connections then it may be the starter or a poor ground. Check all the grounds.

 

Sounds like it could be two things. You say that the dash lights light up, yet no solenoid click.
Yeah, it is probably the connections to the starter, but it might be that the ignition switch on the steering colum has a bad spot on that contact. It happened to me recently.

If you listen carefully can you hear any other clicking when you turn the switch to the Start position? When I had a bad starter I heard a click coming from my dash area, but not from the starter.
When my ignition switch was bad I heard nothing.


[Modified by scn095, 5:41 PM 4/8/2003]

 

well i can only hear 1 click man.. and it sounds like its coming from the dash area but im not 100% sure..

 

i have a good working starter, 50 bux

 

Also, check your grounds (specifically the one from the frame to the clutch cable bracket). A bad ground connection can also cause that problem. I know, i've had that problem. 2 starters later and still didnt start.

 

Did you check your ground cables, your battery terminals for any significant corrosion first? Does the battery read at least 12.4V or so without the engine turned on? That's where I'd check first. I wouldn't assume it's your starter if it makes a click sound.

 

have you tried push starting the car? did it start up fine?if so, then i would guess the starter

 

I had the same thing happen to me but it turned out not to be a bad starter. When you push in the clutch, under the dashbaord, a selinoid(spelling?) or some kind of electric/mechanical switch engages...well, mine was bad. so I ran a bypass clip thing that I got a Ace for about $.20...worked fine. As a result, I no longer need to push in my clutch to start my car....so in the end it worked out quite well......that's my $.02...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 1990hondaHF &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I had the same thing happen to me but it turned out not to be a bad starter. When you push in the clutch, under the dashbaord, a selinoid(spelling?) or some kind of electric/mechanical switch engages...</TD></TR></TABLE>

Good suggestion... forgot all about those. My car doesn't have one of those switches.