Hi,

I'm new to the group and am a bit of a novice when it comes to working on cars. So where do I start...since my Civic won't.

In early April I had to replace my Alternator. Couldn't afford OEM, so got the Autozone lifetime warranty one and put it in myself. It lasted less than 3 months before I got stranded and had to have it replaced again. This time, since I was nowhere near my home, I had to pay someone to do the replacement and Autozone picked up half the tab for the labor for my inconvenience...

Yesterday, I was coming home from work (35 miles each way) when all of my gauges started fluttering and then the needles zeroed out and the car completely died. So, I'm thinking I got another dud of an alternator from Autozone. The car was just above 'E' and I've always been able to drive it 30 miles or so to get gas when it gets to this level. However, this time I think it was actually empty. Fortunately, I broke down in front of a young man's house and he put a gallon of gas in it for me and after several attempts to start it finally started. I took it down the road and put another $10 worth of fuel in it to get the rest of the way home.

I made a few more stops close to home and low and behold it died again at a Food Lion parking lot, this time with almost a half tank of fuel in it. I managed to get it started again after several tries and got it back home (a few miles more).

Today, I took off work and got up and cleaned out the IACV. It started up nicely and seemed to be running better. I drove it to AutoZone and bought a fuel filter and an air filter. Again, just before I got to the house it died again. Finally, I managed to get it to start once more and got it to the house where I put the fuel filter and air filter on. Now it will not start at all. I'm hoping someone on here had run into this before and give me an idea where to start, because I can't really afford an expensive repair bill on a fixed one income household.


Regards,

Steve

 

Can anyone help with this?

 

Electrical gremlins are some of the most difficult to diagnose over post forums, buying cheap autozone electrical parts complicates things further. If you can do some research, buy a helms, and maybe ask more specific questions I may be able to help you.

You may want to start by troubleshooting your fuel pump.

 

Ok, thanks for getting back to me. I'm guessing that a 'helms' is some sort of electronic meter? I do have a multi-meter, but not sure if this is what you are referring to.

I did notice one thing that may help pinpoint the problem. When I put the key in the 'On' position, none of the dash panel lights will come on. When I turn to start, they light up in that position.


Regards,

Steve

 

Also, one other detail that I don't know is relevant or not, when the repair station put that second alernator in a few weeks ago, the SRS light has been on ever since. I took it back for them to turn off and they said they didn't have the correct connector to hook up to it to pull the codes and turn it off...

 

Sounds like a bad ignition switch. That will also cause cutting off while driving even though the battery is charged. If it always cranks at normal speed when you try to restart (successful or not), the alternator and battery are OK.

 

Thanks. That is actually the path I'm heading down now. Going to do some test and will get back here later and post what I find. Another clue I guess was that after reading about the ignition switch issues late yesterday evening, I heard you could start the car if you held the turned key between start and run. Sure enough, I went out this morning and it fired right up. As so as I let go, it cut off again....

 

Switch is bad for sure then.

 

I had found a youtube video where someone is replacing the ignition switch on an Accord and showing how to measure for continuity across the pins. However, this ignition switch only had the one connector with all 5 wires going to it. On this 94 civic, there are 2 connectors, 1 that has the ACC, IG1 and IG2 wires and a second connector that has the BATT and STARTER wires. I can't seem to find the second connector that has the BATT and STARTER wires. Anyone have any pictures or links to information that can help me locate this connector?

Thanks,

Steve