1996 Honda Accord - no crank

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Hello all:

I have a 1996 Honda Accord LX 2.2 four cylinder, the car will not crank. The battery is fine, the starter I just replaced, it acts like it has a short when you turn the key to crank it. The idiot lights go dim, it makes a small click before the lights dim out. It "recovers" (stops acting like it has a short) after a few minutes, so you try to crank again, and it does the same thing. Once when I had the headlights on it cranked over and started. Any ideas??

I replaced the starter thinking the solenoid was causing the electrical short. Did not fix the issue.

Help!

DutchBrad
 
Originally Posted By: Chris142
Its not a short. It's an open.It has a bad connection or cable.


This is a new one for me. An open will drain the battery? I just had the battery out and cleaned the connectors when it was out to do the starter last night. Same condition. I will check the grounds. I pulled the battery connection off again to avoid a dead battery.
 
Originally Posted By: Alex_V
I don't believe you mentioned the battery drain in your initial post...


The car does not have a battery drain after the short/open whatever is causing the dim idiot lights recovers. When you go to crank the car, the idiot lights go dim, but after a couple of minutes the short/open condition stops. I thought it was the solenoid shorting out. Sorry for the confusion. I was pretty surprised when the same condition happened with the new starter in place and wired up. I unhooked the battery last night because I had to get inside and did not know how long the condition would take to recover. It is like a fuse resets or something, but when I go to crank it again, the dim lights happen again with no starter movement, only a small click. Could not tell where the click came from.
 
Check the ignition switch. I had a 95 Odyssey and I needed to swap out the switch. I recall it was common on mid 90s Hondas.
 
Did you check the battery cables only at the battery? Did you check the ground connection at the other end of the cable from the battery? One is on the radiator support, should be another on the engine block. Clean them with baking soda mixed with water, and your old tooth brush, report back.

And get a volt meter, check voltage please.
 
Just took a look at the car again today, the car started in neutral. So it is the neutral safety switch. Not a fan of all that safety [censored]. Might try a way to bypass it? If not, I will replace the switch. Thanks for all the comments, much appreciated.
 
Originally Posted By: Papa Bear
Originally Posted By: DutchBrad
The battery is fine,


How did you come to this conclusion?


I had the battery out and ran it in my other Accord. It also showed 12.6 volts when I checked it.
 
Neutral safety switch will not cause all the lights to go out. You have a bad connection in one of the major power or ground wires. Use your voltmeter to find out where the voltage is being lost.
 
So I go out to the car, prep for a voltage drop test, have my wife start the car, and it starts right up. I did not see much voltage loss, a couple tenths. AND the car was in park, not neutral. Not sure why the car started. ideas?
 
It sounds like the problem was always intermittent. You will need to wait until it happens again to be able to test. In the meantime you could pre-emptively clean up and reconnect the battery connections and grounds.
 
Originally Posted By: mk378
It sounds like the problem was always intermittent. You will need to wait until it happens again to be able to test. In the meantime you could pre-emptively clean up and reconnect the battery connections and grounds.


I cleaned both the battery terminals and grounds yesterday. Car did not start, but then last night I shifted the ar into neutral and it started. I am considering replacing both the positive and negative battery cables. They don't cost that much at Rockauto.com and should fix the issue. The car is currently a apare so I am not in a huge hurry here.
 
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