~223,000 miles, 1994 Civic EX, 5-speed

Yesterday, I go on my lunch break as normal, drive the car back to the office and everything is fine.

When I go to leave, I turn the ignition and get nothing. I've had battery problems before, but the battery in this car is less than six months old. I have a guy from work come back and jump me and this doesn't help. I check all my fuses and everything looks fine. I roll the car down the hill and pop the clutch and it fires up as normal. All lights and electronics work fine, even when the car was off. I do not think this is a problem with my battery, especially because after I drove it home it still didn't start. I'm thinking there is a problem with my starter, connection to the starter, or ignition, but I really can't be sure. There was no indication of anything being wrong up until I went to leave. I'm kinda baffled how something could go wrong while the car was off. *shrug*

I've read through some of the other posts here, so I'm going to start with some of those items, but I'd like to get a thread going with my own personal situation. This is my first post here, but I've been here several times in the past when troubleshooting problems for my car.

If I didn't provide enough information, please let me know as I'll be checking the forum throughout the day.

Thank you.

EDIT: Absolutely NOTHING happens when I turn the key. It appears to be the same in the II position as in the III (start) position. I did a little more research and saw something about a "clutch start switch", could this be a potential problem as well?

 

You get no noise or anything when you turn the key to start?

First turn the headlights on and turn the key to start again. If the lights go out, you probably have a bad connection at the battery, ground wire, etc. If they don't dim at all, try jumping the starter.

This is a procedure where you bypass the key switch, clutch safety switch, etc. and activate the starter directly. Make sure the car is not in gear and the brake is set. Turn the key OFF. You don't want to start the car, just test the starter. If the car does start and happens to be in gear it will crash and/or run over you. Stand to the side so it can't run over you in any case.

With the safety precautions in place, pull the little wire off of the starter and use a short piece of wire to connect the terminal on the starter for the little wire to the terminal with the big wire (that goes to the battery +). The starter should turn normally. If it doesn't the starter is probably bad. You can remove it from the car and have it tested again at a parts store.

It is common for these starters to fail slowly. They click but don't turn. After several tries it will start once, then the next time you have to do it more and more until eventually it is completely shot.

 

mk378, thanks for your quick response.

I just went and jumped the starter and there was definitely some movement. I had to rig something up so I didn't get a long/solid connection, but it touched long enough to spin the starter motor around for a second, maybe two. So obviously the starter is the not the problem here. Thanks again for helping me narrow it down.

I was looking at my clutch pedal and trying to see what's going on up there, but I honestly don't know what I'm at. I noticed a button that looks like it is SUPPOSED to be depressed when the clutch pedal is out (in it's natural position), but I also noticed that the metal piece that touches it (and presumably presses the button when the clutch is in it's natural position) has a hole in it where the switch it. Basically, the button is always out... WTF??

This has to be some sort of switch/ignition problem right?

 

Just went and bought a continuity tool and it's telling me there is continuity on both the big and small wire terminals on the starter. I don't really know what this means, or if I'm using the tool properly, but I figured I'd update with any info I have.

The starter definitely works. I used a better wire the second time around and was able to crank it for several seconds.

 

Your EX, or any version with factory cruise control, will have two switches on the clutch pedal. The bottom one drops out the cruise control when the pedal starts to move. The top one disables the starter unless the pedal is pressed all the way to the floor.

Unplug the top switch and jumper the plug. See if you can start it with the key then. Don't forget to plug the little wire on the starter back in.

 

How do I 'jumper the plug'?

 

Use a small piece of wire and push it into the plug (the end connected to the car) to connect the 2 pins, and thus the two wires, together.

 

Started right up, thanks again man.

I'll try and stick around and help where I can.

Take care,

-Adam