hello, I'm new to this forum and hope someone might be able to help. I have an 18 year old automatic honda civic 1.6 (1993) which I've had for just over 4 years. It doesn't always start. This usually always happens as soon as I've filled up with petrol. It often happens when I've driven just a short journey and then want to get back in and go again after a very short time. And sometimes it's just randomly. it has had new spark plugs, starter motor, lots of things over my period of ownership. I always know when it isn't going to start as when I've turned the ignition key twice, I wait to hear a little 'click' noise before turning it fully to start. If that doesn't happen I know it isn't going to start. I can usually get it going after about 10 minutes by waiting, and then putting my foot down on the accelerator when I switch it on. (I'm worried if I'm flooding the engine when I do this though and damaging the car?) Someone who saw me stuck at the garage one time mentioned it might be something to do with a sensor in the car not recognising I've filled up with petrol... can anyone help? the little click noise has to be a big clue but I don't know what that actually signifies. many thanks in advance!

 

The click noise comes from the main relay, which on those model years was a lemon part. It causes intermittent crank but no start, especially when hot. Fortunately this is a zero-dollar fix. Everyone who owns a 1988 to 1995 model will probably need to do the main relay re-solder job sometime.

See this post:
https://www.hondacivicforum.com/foru...-repair-89522/

 

thank you very much!

 

could I just ask you what you mean by a 'lemon part'?
and how much you think this would cost roughly to have done at a garage?

 

"lemon" part refers to a part that wasn't engineered correctly, it has faults. and for a garage? i think when mine went bad and i looked at how much a new one was it was somewhere between 200 to 300 dollars. that's just the part.not including the minimum labor charge.

 

wow, pretty expensive. shame I don't know a solderer as it doesn't look too difficult on the videos I've watched on youtube! I may just put up with the inconvenience I think! many thanks for your help.

 

I don't know if there's a Radio Shack nearby, but they carry a $15 (USD) basic soldering iron and the rosin core solder you would need to repair it. The best practice is to remove the old solder and put all new stuff in, but I just added new stuff to mine and it worked fine.

Worst case, buy the part from the dealership ($65+ ?) and install yourself (super easy).

 

RELAY....JUNKYARD.... GRAB as many as you can. $15-20 bucks you've got a few relays (plus however many you in your pocket). If you don't hear "click" you've got two or three in the glovebox. One of them's bound to work and get your fuel pump runnin'. I'd rather chance a used (different one) than my solderin'. Kinda sucks when handy work fails in the middle of no where.

 

its not even that bad. you buy the iron. and some rosin core solder "dont get that LEAD FREE bull****!". you will have a difficult time with that. leaded solder is the way to go. it melts at a lower temp and bonds better. once you got those two take the thing apart set it infront of you on the table with the board up so you can see the solder pads (silver solder dabs over the bumps" hold the solder over each tip one by one and add a tiny bit of solder to mix with the old solder. just a little bit and if you screw up and bridge something "creates a solder bridge between 2 connections" drag the soldering iron lightly to break the bridge. or in worst cases buy some desoldering braid. itd be much cleaner if you removed all the **** with it. hold it to the solder joint and touch the soldering iron to it. itll heat up and the desolder braid will suck up all the solder. put down some new solder then move onto the next. it shouldnt take you more than a hour to do it. terminals are BIG too. so dont be too scared about bridging. if it happens your not screwed. just try to break the solder bridge thats all.