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No Crank No Start

381 Views 11 Replies 5 Participants Last post by  mattliston
I have a 98 civic coupe with the good ol' d16y8 VTEC. When I go to start the car all I hear is a click, I was able to bump start the car so I know it runs fine. Few things to note first, I have a code for the ELD (electric load detector) and my alternator overcharges my battery. A few weeks prior I had to get my car jumped after filling the gas tank so I has assumed I just needed to jump the car again. Used a DMM and the battery was at 13.4 volts so it surely didn't need a jump or a charge. Also I've tried jumping it for giggles and Sh*ts but nothing worked. I'd guess that I blew a fuse but would I even hear a click if a fuse went bad? I'd assume there to be no power at all to the starter. I tried looking at wiring diagrams to see which fuses I should check but I couldn't find anything useful. I tried jumping the neutral safety switch with a paper clip and that did nothing. Last thing I noticed was the female spade terminal that runs into the starter was a little loose, I can pull it out pretty easily, i'm assuming this is the starter solenoid which seems to be a common issue. What fuses should I check under the dash if any? if I run a dmm from the battery to that female spade at the starter can I test for voltage drop or that spade terminal for something else. Any help is appreciated, thanks.
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go to the parts store, grab a light bulb socket with 3 wires, like a taillight or something. Grab the suited light bulb, small roll of 12g wiring, and make yourself a 2 channel test light.

One leg to the starter power, one to the trigger, and one to ground.


Now watch and see if it gets brighter when you are trying to start. If it clicks, and both go out for asplit second, your battery, while it has good VOLTS, might not have any grunt.

If you have a jumppack, remove the battery from the equation by removing the ground, and using the jumpack as the battery.


Temporarily also ground the battery engative directly to the transmission casing somewhere.
That kinda says you didnt try putting power to the solenoid trigger while the starter was installed.

All you need is a screwdriver, bridge the power wire to the solenoid single pin, and see if it spins the engine.


A starter can bench test 100% fine, yet suck at turning an engine over.

Only way to really know if a bench test works is if you can measure the current draw as it spins over. That will tell you if it is tired or not.
Great update! Not all wiring shows itself plainly.

Your scenario is why I tend to replace all ground and power wires of any vehicle I own. Cheap insurance, and forces me to actually look at all major power and ground locations.
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