Ok…A little history…I bought my '93 DA about four months ago from a friend of a friend…the car was in great condition, nothing wrong with it.
About a month after I bought it, I started to notice that it didn’t start on the first turn every time. Most of the time, it was flawless, but sometimes, it would just click and not start. Everything electronic turned on, heater/radio/whatnot, but the car wouldn’t start. In general, if it wouldn’t start, I would take the key out, let it sit for a minute or two, and then it would fire up. This only happened about every two weeks or so.
For the last two weeks, it’s been more and more rare for my car to start. The lights on the dash and everything else always turns on, but the car just won’t turn over. I thought the starter was completely gone a couple days ago, when I had to roll start it twice in a day, so I let it sit till today. When I went to start it today, it started first time, so I’m confused as hell.
Has anybody had a similar problem or know what it could be?
Thanks in advance!
Cliff’s notes: Car won’t start except for every once in a while, what’s the problem?
It wouldn’t be the relay if the car doesn’t even crank. If it cranks but doesn’t start up, the relay is sometimes the culprit. It was in my case, but if it won’t even crank it’s an electrical problem like the starter or battery connections.
“It wouldn’t be the relay if the car doesn’t even crank. If it cranks but doesn’t start up, the relay is sometimes the culprit. It was in my case, but if it won’t even crank it’s an electrical problem like the starter or battery connections.”
This could be two problems in one. First, if it doesn’t do anything it is most likely the selunoid on your starter. I took my starter in to a place in Sac and had the selunoid serviced for about $35 dollars in Sac. I can’t remember the name of the shop. You just take in your starter and have them service it. You can bench test your starter by hooking it up to your batter with jumper cables. You need to figure out which connection is pos and neg. Hook up to your battery and the selunoid should engage and make a loud clicking sound. If this doesn’t always happen when you are connecting the jumper cable then you have a bad starter. I replaced mine and found that my starter always turned over but sometimes my car wouldn’t start. This is a whole other animal.
As mentioned, this could be the infamous starter relay. Check teg tips and do a some searches. You need to take apart your center console etc to get to this one. It is below your steering wheel. a possible sign of your relay going out is turning your ignition and it rolling over fine, but your motor not firing up. Good thing I replaced the relay because I almost bought a new coil! I dont’ know what I would do without this website except waste lots of $$$. But then again all of you guys just make me want to spend more of it on mods! Oh well, rather do mods that uneeded repairs.
oh, btw, a sign of a bad starter is when you turn your ignition and nothing happens or you just hear a click. Make sure you bench test it. It isn’t that hard to remove, I got if from the top of the engine, just had to reach in and feel with my hands. Make sure you take a good look at a diagram to know what you are trying to remove. There are several long screws that are holding it into the block.
ok dont go too far as replacing your starter til you read this …
i had this problem two days ago i was driving hard pounding my clutch as normal than i stopped and turned off my car . tried to start it up later it wasnt doing nothing at all not even clicking so i changed my starter with a brand new one and it did nothing.
so the next day i was looking at my clutch pedal and if you look all the way at the top there is that relay button thingy (dont know exact name) but the pedal is supposed to push that button down when you start your car but the thing that pushes it fell out so i put a nut in its place and it started right up i was soo mad after buying that new starter :mad: well maybe thats what wrong good luck
check the connectors on your starter. I had the same problem last year. happened off and on for a while. decided to take a look under the hood after a couple months, and it was just a loose connection on the starter. that was it. been workin’ fine for me for almost a year now. good luck.
i need more information. Does it crank but not start? Does it make any sounds when you turn the key? Have you done anything to the car? I would start at the batter, have it checked, clean the connections then try it. Next check the connections to the starter. Next check the ground cables for the engine and battery where they bolt to the framework. When turning the switch on kind of wiggle the key but dont break it, maybe give the steering colum a good whack with the palm of your hand while holding the switch to start. Next take starter and have it tested. As mentioned in a previous post, if its very hot where you live the soidering inside the main fuel pump relay crack and expand from the heat. If you’ll leave the doors open and allow the inside of the car to cool down some the connections shrink back down and will activate the fuel pump.
note: I don’t recommend just blindly replacing your starter, that is why you want to Bench Test it first. That will show you if your starter is properly operating or not. And once again, there are many places that can service the starters. You can even purchase a starter kit from acura that replaces several components that wear out in starters. I did that but it didn’t help since my selunoid was bad. I had my starter fixed for $35 at a shop that specializes in small engines and motors. So remember, diagnostics and testing saves you $$$.
CHECK BATTERY CONNECTIONS FOR CORROSION!!! I had this same problem, just take a good sized wrench or small hammer and tap your battery terminals, not hard enough to damage the battery but just enough to move some corrosion around. It is a good free method to try…good luck.
I had the exact same problem you mentioned. I know exactly what it is. Before you go replacing the expensive relays and starters and stuff, try replacing the $10 starter contacts. Inside the starter, there are two copper pieces on the side that wear out over time (it’s about time to change them considering our cars are 10+ years old). I found that with the starter jumping out every time you crank the car, it wore some deep grooves in the copper contacts and eventually wore down so much that the contacts just weren’t making the proper contact to pass power to the starter motor. It’s a 45 minute job, just remove the starter motor and then take off the top cap portion of the starter motor and you’ll see to copper pieces on the side (of the inside of the motor). You’ll see what I 'm talking about when you take it apart, you’ll notice the grooves. After changing these, I had no problems.
You can ask your local Acura/Honda Dealership if they have any, if not, ask them if they can give you a contact number for those rebuild shops, they should have a listing for these aftermarket parts. Good Luck!!!
“try replacing the $10 starter contacts. Inside the starter, there are two copper pieces on the side that wear out over time (it’s about time to change them considering our cars are 10+ years old). I found that with the starter jumping out every time you crank the car, it wore some deep grooves in the copper contacts and eventually wore down so much that the contacts just weren’t making the proper contact to pass power to the starter motor.”
This was the starter kit that I had mentioned, it was called the ND post starter kit as I recall. I actually got if for under $20 from a honda dealer. But as I mentioned it didn’t solve my problem. The copper was wore down on the inside, but the problem in my case was the selunoid which isn’t servicable. For only $35, Motor Electric in Grass Valley (north of Sacramento) fixed my starter and now it works like new. But, in my case my starter relay was also bad.
So did you bench test your starter yet? If you want, take it out, bench test it, open it up and check out the copper contacts on the inside, and then you will know if the starter is your problem. If not, go to the next thing.
Just an idea, but do you have an alarm with a kill switch? I just dropped my motor back in and am having problems with the alarm activating the kill switch without me even doing anything, and it does exactly the same thing that you described, lights on dash work but nothing happens, no clicking, no cranking, nothing. Just a thought.
than i stopped and turned off my car . tried to start it up later it wasnt doing nothing at all not even clicking so i changed my starter with a brand new one and it did nothing.