Car has power but won't start. Help please!!

[AaronRVegas]

last night i lent my car to my mother while i was at school. she calls me 1/2 hour into school saying my car is stuck at the end of the driveway. it's a 91 5 speed cb7 sedan. she said the car started fine and then she tried to drive it with the club on and when it hit the bottom of teh driveway it stopped. she took off the club and tried to restart it and it wouldn't start.

all the accessories work and come on. the auto belts and headlights and all blinkers work. last night we popped the clutch and it started fine and ran great until i shut the car off. then when i tried to start it today it would not crank or anything. inside the car i could hear an audible click when i tried to start it but it did not to start.

the car was stolen about 9 months ago and they broke the ignition key switch so it would get stuck in the start position sometimes. and since my mom said she heard metal on metal sound after she started the car i thought maybe she burned out the starter. so since i had a lifetime warranty on it i just went ahead and replaced the starter. that did not solve the problem. so i replaced the ignition switch too(lifetime warranty too), which also did nothing. i deduced that since the car ran fine after popping the clutch that the dizzy was in working order and so was the fuel pump. after 5 hours or so i was really frustrated and decided to call it a day.

last summer i did a lot of work to my car. i replaced the main relay then. i did not check it today because i thought it was probably still good.

any ideas would be greatly appreciated. thanks in advance

[deevergote]

Anti-theft device. It has no bearing on this issue whatsoever.


Clean and tighten all battery and ground connections. Make sure the battery has a full charge. It sounds like a case of corroded battery terminal connections to me.

[GeoffM]

Anti-theft device. It has no bearing on this issue whatsoever.


Clean and tighten all battery and ground connections. Make sure the battery has a full charge. It sounds like a case of corroded battery terminal connections to me.

He said the accessories work. Don't those need the battery?

[honda_acc5]

Anti-theft device. It has no bearing on this issue whatsoever.


Clean and tighten all battery and ground connections. Make sure the battery has a full charge. It sounds like a case of corroded battery terminal connections to me.

whats he said...

also if you have oem connectors be careful because they can snap easily due to age!

[SOHC-FTW]

To add to what deev said i'd also check the main grounds.Kinda leads me to the starter....Try taking a long piece of pipe an taping the starter while an able body is trying to start the car an see if that helps.
I know you said you replaced it, but you can always get a dud.

[SOHC-FTW]

Also have you checked your clutch safety switch?Could be a bad connection.

[AaronRVegas]

@ deev -- i did not take the pos connection off. it did not look corroded at all though. i obviously took the neg off to replace started(and obv. no corrosion there). i will try this tomorrow morning. thanks for posting also is there a diagram somewhere to show the grounds? i know there are a few on teh thermo housing but idk about the others honestly.

To add to what deev said i'd also check the main grounds.Kinda leads me to the starter....Try taking a long piece of pipe an taping the starter while an able body is trying to start the car an see if that helps.
I know you said you replaced it, but you can always get a dud.

as far as tapping the starter i didn't do it with the new one(assumed it was good) but i did with the old one.

the starter ground was a little frayed but not broken by any means. i checked the other grounds on teh thermo housing and they were dirty as hell but when i cleaned them they looked like they were in good shape.

i did not check the clutch safety switch but i did jam it down to the floor when i tried to start it.( i thought about it but didnt check it). will do tomorrow.


after doing all this work and putting in all this effort today it did not seem\ to do anything. also can anyone tell me if my assumption about the dizzy being good is correct?


thanks to everyone for posting. and guy who asked what club is, were you serious? i thought everyone alive in the past 20 years heard of the club. btw its not a "real" club brand. it goes from the brake pedal to the steering wheel.

[SOHC-FTW]

I know this seems far fitch, but im known to over look simple things every now an then.Have you checked the Big AMP fuse under the engine bay fuse box?Also the ECU fuse 10 or 15 amp.That wouldn't stop things from coming on, but would keep it from starting.So check all your fuses also its worth a shot an easy to over look.

[AaronRVegas]

I know this seems far fitch, but im known to over look simple things every now an then.Have you checked the Big AMP fuse under the engine bay fuse box?Also the ECU fuse 10 or 15 amp.That wouldn't stop things from coming on, but would keep it from starting.So check all your fuses also its worth a shot an easy to over look.

my haynes did not say to check any fuses. i suppose i will give it a shot today and see what happens. thanks for the idea.

[RustyBucket]

I know this seems far fitch, but im known to over look simple things every now an then.Have you checked the Big AMP fuse under the engine bay fuse box?Also the ECU fuse 10 or 15 amp.That wouldn't stop things from coming on, but would keep it from starting.So check all your fuses also its worth a shot an easy to over look.

A bad fuse wouldn't cause intermittent issues. If the fuse is bad, it just plain won't work. It is possible, however unlikely, that a fuse could not be properly seated.

As Deev has already said, it is more than likely a bad battery connection. Go over the connectors (especiallly the contact points) and posts with a wire brush until they're shiny and then make sure everything is good and tight.

btw... I'm kind of surprised not everyone is familiar with the club, especially on a CB7 forum, given how popular these cars are known to be with thieves.

[pedroalcala]

Main relay can go out, remember dude, we live in Vegas, and its hot as he'll right now. Main relays go out in the hot weather sometimes... Even if it's not that old it can still go out...

[SOHC-FTW]

I've had two cases on different hondas of the Big AMP Battery fuse showing signs of blowing still had all power just wouldn't start.Swaped them out an back to normal.An also with the ecu fuse you will have all the accessories still work, but it will not start since the ECU is not sending any type of signal.Checking fuses,Grounds, an connections never hurt anyone an are commonly over looked.Am i saying this is his issue?No, but it won't hurt to check.

[HondaFan81]

I think mom stalled car with club on when she reached end of driveway. Then, tried to restart and coincidentally it did not.

If the car ran fine before, then worked when popped clutch. Seems like you took care of all typical starting components.

I'm thinking clutch starting switch may have failed, like you mentioned. Any results on this?

I've heard from someone that bought a car with this issue, it leaves small plastic pieces under the pedal area (supposedly).

[AaronRVegas]

rusty -- i did clean the battery connections and it did not help. there was a bit of corrossion under the terminal but i cleaned it off and scrubbed everything with a brillo pad until shiny but still made no difference.

i think i will take the battery to autozone and have them test/charge it and see if that works on the way to pick up my friend to help me work on it.

pedro -- i suppose you are right but the haynes says nothing about it. i will replace this as a last effort. don't really want to waste another $50 on something unnecessary.

sohc -- you are talking about the 80 amp fuse right? they all look good and i took out the ecu 10 amp fuse and it was fine. i don't know where all the grounds are on the vehicle. the starter ground(i think that's what it is) is a little frayed but not broken. the insulation on the wire has broken a little bit but it still looks okay.

I think mom stalled car with club on when she reached end of driveway. Then, tried to restart and coincidentally it did not.

If the car ran fine before, then worked when popped clutch. Seems like you took care of all typical starting components.

I'm thinking clutch starting switch may have failed, like you mentioned. Any results on this?

I've heard from someone that bought a car with this issue, it leaves small plastic pieces under the pedal area (supposedly).

this is the step i was working on when i realized i dont have a wrench of proper size to loosen the nut. like i said i am going to pick up my friend and he has all the proper tools. the haynes says to loosen the nut, spin the switch and retighten. then it says check for continuity and if none then replace switch.

i did not notice any plastic shavings on the floor.

i will keep trying to get it. if the clutch switch isn't it it looks like it's onto wiring

thanks for all the input guys. if you can think of anything else please let me know.


edit -- what the haynes says about ecu check seems to be working. it says the check engine light should come on for 2 seconds then go out. this happens. also the alt light, brake light come on too. not near the car now but 1 more light might come on too.

[pedroalcala]

Pm me and I'll go to ur pad and help u fix this...