car won't start

[AnTi-PooN]

ok i was putting hid's in my 91 civic dx ( i forgot to remove the negative from the battery while i was doing this). now when i crank it won't turn over. battery is fine, starter is fine, fuel pump turns on. popping the clutch does nothing. removed the hid's and still the same stuff.


????????????????????

[blackshine007]

You didn't pull the ground strap loose by any chance, have you? Check the disty for any signs of oil. Also, pull one of the spark plug wires and see if it's getting spark. Your disty might have went out.

[AnTi-PooN]

how do i see if the dizzy went out?

[blackshine007]

Look for spark (or lack of) and if there's spark, check fuel. First thing first is to check the fuses.

[AnTi-PooN]

fuses are good, if anyone really wants to help

*********

car is at a freinds house with no net but ima check for spark now

[blackshine007]

Another thing you can do is crack open the fuel filter line (17mm socket) and turn the key on to see if it's getting fuel. It should literally spray out when you turn the key on. But only do that if you've determined that you're getting spark.

[BUGMAN]

ok i was putting hid's in my 91 civic dx ( i forgot to remove the negative from the battery while i was doing this). now when i crank it won't turn over. battery is fine, starter is fine, fuel pump turns on. popping the clutch does nothing. removed the hid's and still the same stuff.


????????????????????

Ok so your saying that you have a full charge on the battery and your assuming that the starter is good but when you turn the key it does nothing.

I would have to say that your not going to be able to check the fire unless it is actually turning over so check your battery cables first. The fuel pressure should not be an issue at this time either unless the car is turning over and not starting up.

It sounds like either you have a bad or loose connection at the battery or ground from the battery. I can't see swapping headlights having anything to do with this unless you wiggled a wire loose somewhere in the process.

If your headlights were not turned on while swapping them then there was no power being sent to them and there is no way you could have done anything at that point. Do your headlights work now?

Good luck with this but I would highly suggest that before going any further to check your battery connections and ground from the battery.

Hold a volt meter on the battery cables (not the battery terminals) and have someone turn the key over while doing so and see what the voltage reads before and during that process. Also check your power reading at the solenoid but I am betting that it is something loose concerned with the battery.

Again good luck but it really sounds like something really simple to me.

Dialing your number now. ;)

Chris

[JDMirza]

Another thing you can do is crack open the fuel filter line (17mm socket) and turn the key on to see if it's getting fuel. It should literally spray out when you turn the key on. But only do that if you've determined that you're getting spark.

He can also check if hes getting power to the fuel pump with a test light. Make sure the car is trying to turn over though, have someone turn the key on and take one of the spark plug wires off from the dizzy, to check if you are getting spark. But hes right, check the fuses first.

[BUGMAN]

ok i was putting hid's in my 91 civic dx ( i forgot to remove the negative from the battery while i was doing this). now when i crank it won't turn over. battery is fine, starter is fine, fuel pump turns on. popping the clutch does nothing. removed the hid's and still the same stuff.


????????????????????


Hm how is he going to check the fire and dizzy if it isn't turning over? He apparently doesn't have a huge knowledge base on cars and telling him to check the fire and fuel pressure when the car isn't even turning over is really not helping him out.

When I talked to him he was ready to buy another distributor when the damn thing won't even turn over because he wasn't getting fire...

Geez guy's wrong advice could be very costly to folks. I am not trying to rant or start a war but if your here to help then be careful on giving the wrong advice to someone.

Merry Christmas

[JDMirza]

What's wrong by using a test light to check if he's getting power to the fuel pump ?

[AnTi-PooN]

i can hear the fuel pump

[JDMirza]

i can hear the fuel pump
Oh okay.

[1flysi]

Any updates? You could try jumping the starter solenoid to test the starter.

[JDMirza]

Any updates? You could try jumping the starter solenoid to test the starter.
+1

[1flysi]

Also could be the neutral safety switch.

[Kaiser]

I wonder, you say the engine is not turning over, does it make any noise at all? Does it sound like a weak roll over (RrrrrrrrRRRrrrrr like a dead remote control car on it's last legs trying to move) or does it make a clicking sound? Does it make no sound at all? Do the chimes inside work? (Door Dinger, etc) Or overhead dome lamps? Do your new headlights work when installed? If all this is working and your car is not trying to turn over, then check your electricals to your starter. If it makes no noise that means that the starter is not spinning the crank, and that's the problem. If it's making a weak noise, then your battery for some reason is not strong enough to spin the starter at full speed, and if it's making a clicking noise...well your starter might be out of position on the crank. Some more info about what exactly the issue is would be helpful, unless you already got someone to figure it out for ya.

Hope I can help, and Merry Christmas.

[BUGMAN]

He told me that it clicks once which leads me to believe that it is a loose connection. I did not know this in my first post is what kept me thinking that it was a bad connection somewhere.

[AnTi-PooN]

Any updates? You could try jumping the starter solenoid to test the starter.

i alredy did that and almost died from the shock.

i'm gonna go with what bugman said but i gotta wait till tomarrow

[AnTi-PooN]

it clicks alot very rapidly

[AnTi-PooN]

all the electricals work

[Kaiser]

it clicks alot very rapidly That sounds like the starter is out of position to me, has happened to me before on an old eclipse, was changing the oil and pushed up against the front bumper and it rolled back just a little, next thing I know as we go to start the car it clicks rapidly and won't start. The guy who owned the car was freaking out while my boss was trying to calm him down. We rocked the car back and forth a little and finally it started right up fine.

No guarantee that's the case, but considering everything you told us, that's what my experience would suggest happen. When you were installing the lights it's possible the car moved as you leaned on the front, and somehow something got pushed just a little out of position where the starter can't turn the motor over right. No guarantees this is the case, but it's the simplest answer to what you've described.


Edit: Wanted to add a little more of a technical about this: The rapid clicking sound you hear is, in 99% of all cases, the sound of the electric motor in the starter not being able to turn. This is a common noise for electric motors to make when they're locked and unable to turn. The cause for not being able to turn the engine could be alot of things. A seized or Hydrolocked engine which seems unlikely, the teeth being bad on your starter or on the fly where the starter connects to it, or simply the starter being out of alignment with the wheel and teeth hitting in a way that they don't mesh, usually a sign that the teeth are worn. It's totally possible there's something wrong with the starter itself too.

This'll sound dumb but I'll also point it out: If you have a car in gear with the clutch out and the wheels aren't moving, you'd get a similar kind of situation as the wheels stop the tranny and, through the clutch and flywheel assembly, the engine from spinning.

[AnTi-PooN]

ok

[BUGMAN]

You need to find out what is clicking rapidly. It could be the solenoid or the starter but make sure that the volts are not dropping a lot using a tester while turning the key over in the process of trying to start it. If the volts drop below 11 then you need to charge the battery. If they remain above 12 volts and still clicking then find out what is clicking and that will more than likely be your problem.

When your jumping a solenoid as you stated that you already attempted make sure that you are touching the correct 2 jumpers together. More than likely one of the ones that you need to be contacting will have a slip on connecter and not be a open connection. Your going to have to pull that off and short it to the positive terminal. If your touching the 2 post together then your only going to get sparks and end up shorting something out on your car.

Right now I would say either a loose connection or the solenoid is now bad from maybe touching the wrong post together trying to get it started.

If you mess with it tomorrow feel free to call me if ya have any questions. What city is the car located in now?

I may be wrong but I am assuming that you have the 1.5/D15B2 in that car? If so here is the starter/solenoid but I am not sure on this model which ones are hot, ground or the ignition switch so maybe someone will chime in so you don't short anything out.

[Kaiser]

Here's to hoping that it's a cheap fix no matter what it is, though with the age of the car I hope it's that the starter is out of alignment due to wear on the teeth. You should be able to line it up and have her run for a while at least for super cheap. If it's just about anything else you're probably gonna end up spending a bit.

[1flysi]

You shouldn't really get spark when jumpimg the solenoid unless you are touching the positive post to ground or the starter is locked up/grounded out.
If it is grounded out though you would have melted your battery cables. On the starter there is a little wire (starter signal wire)with a spade terminal inside a rubber boot(that is if the boot is still there). Take a wire and touch it from where that spade terminal goes, to the positive side of the battery or where the positive wire is hooked on the starter. I hope this helps a little.

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o258/1flysi/b-starter.jpg

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o258/1flysi/19-starter_motor-l.jpg

[AnTi-PooN]

thnx guys

[The BUCKY]

call me if you need some more help. maybe i can come over

[BUGMAN]

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o258/1flysi/b-starter.jpg

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o258/1flysi/19-starter_motor-l.jpg

Exactly what I was saying... Very nice photo illustrations. I was not sure on the Honda starters but I knew they had to have an ignition/signal wire.

[BUGMAN]

UPDATE?

Did ya get it running?

[AnTi-PooN]

still won't work

i'm gonna create a new ground with my jumper cable and crank tomarrow

[r_Senik]

same thing happend to me...but mine was that the terminals wasnt touching the battery..so i put paper clips in between so that they can touched...worked fine

[AnTi-PooN]

thats kinda ghetto lol

[AnTi-PooN]

ok so i tried to make a new ground and it still won't work... so that eliminates the problem of connections.

i'm totally stumped but bucky said he might come an help me

[AnTi-PooN]

ok i'm desperate... but i don't wanna tow to a shop if anyone wants to come and help i will pay you.

404 697 8080 ..... and i live by the mall of ga

[BUGMAN]

If it was here I would be more than happy to check it out for ya... I have a trailer you can come borrow to get your car over here or anywhere else you may want to take it. I don't have time to come get it right now but I may be able to Sunday after church hours or something. If you have a truck or can get one come get the trailer and bring your car over here. We don't mind at all and it will be on the house. At least then we can go through your connections and make sure you don't have a dead short or something is loose.

Your call but just wanted to offer what I can at the moment.

P.S. No charge on trailer
or shop time from us. ;)

[AnTi-PooN]

ok it works.. don't laugh but we tried jumping it again and welll... yea end of story just glad bugman hopped in and saved me a ton of money

[BUGMAN]

ok it works.. don't laugh but we tried jumping it again and welll... yea end of story just glad bugman hopped in and saved me a ton of money

Man I am just glad that you got it started. I have been piddling with cars a long time and was almost positive that it was a bad connection somewhere.

So what was it exactly? :thinking:

[AnTi-PooN]

dunno.. we hooked up the jumpers and left it while his car was on while we were smokin a cig... i tried to crank it and it started!!!!!!!!!I EVEN WAS VIDEOING IT to show everyone the sound it was making

link to vid:::

http://youtube.com/watch?v=TETkDLXZIFo

[blackshine007]

Low voltage from battery or a bad connection...... Glad it runs now

[BUGMAN]

Glad it runs now

Ditto!