No start - no crank; getting desperate
 

Hey all,

I have a 98 Civic HX hatch that has a B20 turbo swap. It's my weekend/track car so it doesn't see much use. A few days ago I let her run to operating temp and shut it down. No issues, all was well. I try to go for an evening cruise tonight, start my ingition sequence; and I get one click from starter and the lights dim almost completely dark.

Finding this odd, I try again. This immediate second attempt was worse than the first; no dash lights, no fuel pump prime, no ignition sequence programmed into the tune (check engine light flashes) - nothing, just a dark dash and overly quiet interior. Even the fan struggled to start spinning second attempt.

I recently relocated my battery to the trunk inside a marine case to somewhat appease track rules, and ran all new 4 gauge wire front to back with new ring connectors. It gave me issues at first due to a nut not being below power wire from battery directly to starter, causing a short. Added the nut, re tried and all was well for weeks.

I have pulled every every fuse related to the battery, alternator, fuel pump and ignition. I had an extra main relay and swapped it as well. Re tightened all ground connectors, chased all wires for visible breaks and shorts - I found nothing wrong with any of this. The battery is marine grade & oversized with 600+ cold cranking amps, and was deep cycle charged @ 2amps for 48hours showing a full charge.

When I attempt to start it with my charger on "start mode", it makes my tachometer and speedometer dance around the cluster with the same results, a click and dimming lights. I have noticed a very faint odor that smells like burning, but only noticed this once out of the many attempts to fix the issue.

Basically I am seeking some advice if anyone else has experienced something similar. I've searched high and low for days, reading countless forums and watching endless videos. I'm at a loss and am open to any feedback. I apologize in advance if I have left out any information. I have a video showing all this but am unsure if I can post it. Any help is appreciated, thank you!

Kind regards,
Eric

Re: No start - no crank; getting desperate
 

Bump

Re: No start - no crank; getting desperate
 

can you push start it ?

Re: No start - no crank; getting desperate
 

Sounds like a ground issue somewhere. I changed an intake manifold gasket on my accord one time and simply forgot to connect one little 14 or so gauge ground wire on the manifold and it literally would not start and I had like a dim, flickering CEL. Weirdest shit ever. Plugged in my code scanner and it fired right up, no codes. Unplugged it and it died. It would only run while the scanner was plugged in. Thinking omg, wtf, where do I even start....Reconnected that one little bitch ass ground wire and everything was fine. Not to say your issue is the same wire but I think you see where Im going with this, especially with your BMW style battery setup.

Re: No start - no crank; getting desperate
 

I agree with Efab .. seems like a ground issue .. there are a couple of places to check for good ground (where ground wires are connected to the chassis)..depends on your model ...

Re: No start - no crank; getting desperate
 

Take a wire rap it around the ground where the thermal stat ground is and put it to the negative side of the battery and see if it will start then because I had the same issue and this helped so like efabe and amerc said definitely a ground..may not be the problem but that's what helped me.