Civic won't crank
07-21-2010, 02:52 PM
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Civic won't crank
I have a '93 civic that ran perfectly normal until yesterday when i tried to start it and it wouldn't even crank. I took the starter to advance auto parts and they said the starter was fine, i checked the voltage on the battery and it was good, i just swapped the main relay and it still isn't cranking. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
07-21-2010, 03:11 PM
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Re: Civic won't crank
Look for a broken battery clamp, or a loose ground connection. Do you have power to the radio, cluster, etc., and are just having a problem with the engine starting?
07-21-2010, 03:47 PM
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Re: Civic won't crank
Ok, that narrows down the potential problems a lot. Grab a multimeter and see where you have power and where you don't. You're not hearing a "click" or anything else when you try to crank the engine?
07-24-2010, 10:38 PM
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Re: Civic won't crank
What happens when you try to start it? Besides hearing the click, does your radio turn off, do your gauge cluster lights dim, any things like that?
FYI, it's not an ECU problem. You can physically remove the ECU from the car and the engine will still crank happily all day long. The engine won't run obviously, but it won't have any problems cranking whatsoever. So if it's not cranking, the ECU has nothing to do with it.
07-24-2010, 10:40 PM
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Re: Civic won't crank
It may sound crazy, but have you tried taking a piece of wire directly from the battery to the starter? Are you sure you hear the relay? If memory serves me correctly it is behind the dash, and you have to get to it from the side, with the drivers door open. I think I still have a spare in my tool box. Do you have fuel pressure?