Hi All,

I have a 90 Civic Std 4-speed manual hatchback. I've been having problems starting my car and after searching the forum, I decided it was the main relay. So I followed the direction on the helpful sites and removed the relay and resoldered all the connections and the car still doesn't start...

- Before I took out the relay, on a cold night, I can turn the key to position II (just before starting) and the check engine light would come on for a while and then turn off and then I can start the car. But after I "fixed" the relay, the check engine light is always on... Did I break the relay trying to fix it? or could something else be wrong?

- I found a page that showed how to bypass the relay by jumping some wires. So I followed the diagram and jumped pins 3-4 and 1-7 (they supply power to the ECU & fuel injection system and fuel pump, respectively). After I jump those pins, I can hear a high pitched sound and I can start the car BUT after I let the key go back to position II, the car dies... (it seems to start normal until I let the key go and then the car dies) When I jump the wires, I noticed that the check engine light stays on also (it goes away when the car is turning over).

Can someone please help me?

Also, I noticed a couple symptoms that are different than the pure main relay problems (these were noticed when the car was still drivable):

1. Sometimes the seat-belt warning speaker never turns off. If my passenger removes his seat belt and opens the door, the beeper sounds but never turns off until I restart the car.
2. Sometimes when I turn on my lights, there's a time lag before they actuall turn on. The lag is even longer when I switch from normal lights to brights (around 10 seconds maybe).

Thanks for your time. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Listen for the fuel pump when you turn the car to ON (not start).
If you hear the pump then the relay is probably working unless you really messed thing up with your soldering.

The main relay supplies power to the ECU as well as the fuel pump. It won't start the car unless it gets power from the ignition switch being turned to ON.

IMO - sounds like you need a new main relay since this problem didn't exist before you soldered it.

 

Thanks for the reply.

- With the "fixed" relay in place, I do not hear a clicking sound (I think that's how the fuel pump should sound) when I turn the car to ON.

- I looked at the schematic for the relay and it has diodes, inductors, and a resister. I think those components are generally pretty tough and my soldering shouldn't have messed them up. I will try to supply 12V to the relay and see if the switch closes.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 4drEF &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> The main relay supplies power to the ECU as well as the fuel pump. It won't start the car unless it gets power from the ignition switch being turned to ON.</TD></TR></TABLE>

- I did turn the ignition switch to ON. The car starts but dies as soon as I let go of the key.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">IMO - sounds like you need a new main relay since this problem didn't exist before you soldered it.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I think it may be the main relay plus something else. Here is the before and after comparison:

Before: The won't start when it's hot outside. Wait a while or wait until night, it starts fine. I can turn the key to position II and the check engine light comes on, I hear a click, the light goes off and I can start the car. This happened for a while until it just refused to start so I did the relay "fix"

After: Turn the key to position II, the check engine light turns on but never goes off. The car won't start.

Thanks again for the help. Can anyone else offer any suggestions/solutions?

 

You might want to check the circuit that feed the ignition signal to the main relay.
Everything else can work just fine, but if the relay doesn't get the igntion signal from the key being turned from ON to START then it doesn't latch the relay and fuel won't pump after return the key from START back to ON.

 

Thanks for the suggestion, I will try to check the circuit that feeds the ignition signal (do you happen to know if there's a writeup on how to do this?)

Also, if this circuit was the only problem, then I should've been able to start the car when I bypassed the relay. I manually jumped the pins to the ECU/fuel injector and the fuel pump. They should always be on regardless of the key position.

Another quick question, how much current is flowing through those wires? I used some small allegator clams with relatively thin wires and they got pretty hot...

 

bump for help

 

bump again please help.

 

Dang, my friend is also have main relay woes and he has that same problem with the seat belt warning buzzer not shutting off. Good luck and bump for u.

 

Thanks for the reply. Please let me know if your friend figures out how to fix his/her problems. Bump again for more help...

 

bump and also another question.

do the switches in the main relay stay on the entire time the car is running? I was thinking the reason my car dies as soon as I let go of the key is because the relay is not there. Perhaps after the car starts, one or both of the switches open....

 

bump

 

sounds like your fix did more bad then good.. time for a new one.

 

Yes, unfortunately I think my "fix" was not good. I just want to make sure it is the relay before I go spending $50+ on a new relay (approx 10% of the car value).

 

If u wanna make the drive to the long beach area, i can sell u a used one for $25.

 

Sorry, can't make the drive out there, my car doesn't work...