2002 Civic LX, 80K

Just happened all of a sudden... just got home... parked... and wanted to go out to get some dessert for V-Day with the girl and the car wouldnt crank or anything.

When I put the car to the On position, I wait and hear the fuel pump prime. Then I proceed to crank it over but all I get is multiple clicking noises from relays or something in the steering column and in the glovebox (ecu) area.

The starter makes no noise whatsoever. I just put a new battery in a few weeks ago so I thought maybe the battery might be dead/faulty so I got another one from my cousin cuz he was just about to put it in his civic. Still same thing.... just clicking noises. But now when I just put it to the "On" position it will make those clicking sounds for awhile then disappear. I try to crank and then the clicking starts happening again. I think it might be a short circuit somewhere but I dont even know where to begin. When the clicking happens the voltage drops drastically. I've tried everything I can think of... please help!

Thanks... anything is appreciated...


Sorry forgot to mention is freezing cold outside -25+ Celcius... I am so upset .. this has never happened ever.. it was fine all day too.

Oops sorry posted on my cousins account. But ya... Help!!

 

click me

 

sorry none of those seem to be my symptoms

 

After thinking about it on the ride after my cousin picked me up. I think it might be my Hyper Voltage Stabilizer? I'm not sure.. maybe its acting up or just faulty?

I dunno.. I'll try some more stuff tomorrow when I finish school but if anyone has any ideas dont hesitate to ask! any constructive critism or comments will help!

 

its your battery.

Get a load test done on it.

 

I – Does the car NOT crank, or crank slowly?

second line down seems to be your problem.

If you just got a new battery I would check the connections first, then do a quick DVM to see if you have 12.6 ish volts.

 

ok.. here's what we've tried so far....

We've taken the battery out and replaced it with a brand new one that I had (cousin). It still did not crank. So it DEFINITELY cannot be a bad battery. If you keep thinking it's the batter, how is it possible that two batteries emit the same response when one is about a month old while the other is brand new.

Also, It would seem as if when we put the key in, and turn it to "crank" it will no crank at all. Instead you hear crackling under the dashboard. Sort of like a short circuit but not entirely that. Then when you stop the cranking and it's back in the ON position, it continues to crackle spontaneously and the Tachometer jumps. Like the needle jumps.

I decided to test the voltage of the battery when the car is at rest and it's 12v. When we try and crank it, it drains more than half way.

Mike up there suspects that it's the battery regulator so we'll try and disconnect that tonight.

We're probably also going to try and narrow down the search by taking out some fuses and such. Hopefully that'll bring us to the culprit. Any advice on this would be appreciated. Thanks guys

 

The starter doesnt even crank at all. Its as if something else is draining all the electricity when I try to crank it over. Something other than the starter... All the relays in the car go nuts... its very strange. And yes the tachomenter will start jumping as we try to start.


And not the battery regulator... its an aftermarket Hyper Voltage Stabilizer made by SUN. I think that might be crapping out and draining the battery but we'll see later.

 

Does not crank at all. Both batteries read 12.6 Volts (one is 2 weeks old, other is brand new).

When you try to crank you hear a bunch of relays clicking speractically all over the dash. Something is draining the power so that it isnt getting to the starter or something.

And the power seems to sit in the system for awhile because after you release it from the *cranking* position and it goes back to "On" it'll keep clicing all over and the tach will keep jumping for a bunch of seconds and it seems like its just using up all the electricity sitting in the system.

 

so when you crank it with a VM on the battery the battery reads 6V?

Your starter is bad, it's drawing too much current.

 

so then bypass it

 

ya we're going to bypass the stabilizer tonight and let y'all know what happens. Would a faulty starter actually cause all those clicking noises in the dash though?

 

When you crank the car the DVM goes down to 6v? yikes! I curious how many amps your starter is drawing? I would really look here first. I think Cdn Tire still offers free testing when you bring your old starter in???

I got a battery down to 1v once. jumper cables and an arc welding rod.

 

It could..... if your drawing way too many amps. Strange things happens in vehicle electrical systems when you have the correct level in voltage.

 

ya sounds like battery, starboy869 nice avatar!

 

Okay, we have already established that it is not the battery. But thanks anyways for the comment.

 

don't worry. TCC is full of people who make useless posts like that.

Bypass your voltage stab. or whatever. If that doesn't fix it, if you can get your hands on an ammeter check the current draw from the starter. On a car like ours.. it should be around 200-280amps if I remember correctly..

 

I disconnected the Stabilizer, and Power wire for my amplifier... still nothing... just lots of weird clicking noises under the dash.

But one thing I forgot to mention is that when i try to crank... from the outside you hear the starter make a LOUD CLICK noise... as if it receives the power but wont activate the starter motor?

Hmmm I think I'm just gonna get it towed to honda since its starting to sound like a dead starter problem. Its wayyy to cold to work on this car

 

man.. its 1 10mm bolt that holds the harness, one soleniod plug, a 12mm nut for the live power and two 14mm's that hold it in. It takes about 15 minutes to take it out. I did one the other day at work in no time at all..

Make sure you d/c the negative terminal before touching the starter though.. one wire is a constant feed, meaning its live at all times

 

Have you tried the old school method of tapping the starter with a hammer while someone turns the key?
I'm pretty sure you have a bad starter.
Go buy a new one and install it...