Stunna MIKE

So my dilema is that my car won't turn over when I turn the key. It just clicks one time and nothing happens after.

I just changed my starter, alternator and battery. I figured it would fix the problem. Well, it didn't.

I took the car to a mechanic and he said it is because the car is over heating. My headgasket needs to be replaced(burning coolant) But he said that everything gets hotter so some electrical stuff needs to cool down before the car would want to start again.

Well last night I parked the car. Tried starting it about 12 hours later(completely cold). And it still clicked and didn't start.

Could some one please help me out!
Thanks

johnfrancis

check the fuses

Stunna MIKE

It starts though. I just have to keep trying over and over. It will click maybe ten times before it starts. Sometimes take 5 minutes. Sometimes 15. And when it does start. It hesitates and wants to die.

Could it still be my fuse even if it starts? sometimes....

Chiovnidca

Have you checked your battery cables and ground connections?

Stunna MIKE

I have checked the battery cables and ground connections.. they are all secure and clean.

Stunna MIKE

I was referred to this site. http://www.samarins.com/diagnose/index.html

Well actually I googled it. It says the battery might be drained. But I just bought a new battery. And right after I hooked it up. The car still didn't want to start. So it't not like the battery drained. But it does sound like it is drained some times trying to start it.
It Just clicks once and that's it. Untill I try about a dozen times.

RITLINBOY-91.SI

Hey whats up man I have worked at a shop for th past 3 years.
Ok clicking 9 our of 10 means your battery is done, now you have changed the battery so scratch that.

1: Go to your engine bay and check the grounds on the chassis and make sure that you wire brush the paint on the chassis so you for sure have a good ground. Then reispect the 2 wires that connect to the starter. Theground wire, and the power wire. Inspect the power wire to the starter and trace it all the way back to the battery and look for any type of melting breaks or corrosion. If you find any replace that wire.

2: Go to your fuze box panle and pull out each fuze and make sure 2 things, A: they are not blown. B: They are the right size fuze as in 10, 15, or 20. If any are blown replace with one just a bit bigger, if that blows you have a short. Finaly go to your fuze box not under the dash but under the hood. As you pop your hood its on the back left. Check all fuzes and then replace if blown.

3: If there is any chance that you did overheat the motor, dont try to run it. the head may just need a valve job, but if you continue to drive it things like this just get worse.

4: After you do all these things let me know as soon as your done and if you still have issues we can go from there. Just please dont short cut, actually check all the fuzes. Get back at me ASAP! I check this daily and we will go from there. And if you end up needing to pull the head off DONT TAKE IT TO A MECHANIC I and Honda Tech can walk you through it step by step. What kind of motor do you have in the car? Here are some pictures of the Fuze locations.

Stunna MIKE

Man. Thank you very much bro for the in-depth answers!
Finally! A helpful person on HT. I and a couple friends actually changed the head gasket yesterday. And did the timing belt just a little bit ago. Actually just finished about an hour ago. Haha. But I will defininatly go check all that tomorrow morning.

Thanks again bro!

fcm

The starter motor has no ground lead going to it, it has the batt. cable and the starter, [bigger of the two leads] motor solenoid control lead ,[the smaller plug in lead.

Question, where is the "click" coming from, under the dash, [starter relay, manual transmission] or engine bay, [starter solenoid]?

This sounds like misaligned main contacts in starter motor solenoid, [from over-tightening batt. cable on starter motor or a bad starter motor solenoid.

Try a bypass jump, using a jumper lead supply power directly to the starter motor solenoid control terminal, [the one that unplugs] BE CARFULL, engine will crank even if car is in gear and ign. is not turned on.
Another thing to try isto have someone hold the ign. key to start and give the starter motor/solenoid a good hard "tap" with a heavy object, [hammer/wrench/big screw driver]. 94

Canuck99

"I just changed my starter, alternator and battery. I figured it would fix the problem. Well, it didn't."

OK first off what make model and year are we dealing with, Modded unmodded???...Also with regards to the above comment i quoted^^^ Why did you do all this in the first place?

"I took the car to a mechanic and he said it is because the car is over heating. My headgasket needs to be replaced(burning coolant) But he said that everything gets hotter so some electrical stuff needs to cool down before the car would want to start again."

This has F/A to do with why the starter is clicking. This is definatly another problem.

Did you put an aftermarket starter or a OE starter on it, seen MANY aftermarket starters bad out of the box.
If its clicking there is a good chance the small trigger wire from the ign switch is plugged in tight. When the solinoid kicks the drive out the contacts in the solinoid provide power to the starter motor and it turns the flywheel.

My thoughts: new battery installed just turn on the headlights and crank away, if all you get is a click then the starter is not drawing any power to turn the main drive. The headlights will usually dim if the starter is drawing power. bright headlamps and a click with no dimming usually means the Battery is good.
Like posted above you could jump the starter to 12v on the battery to see if the main drive even works.
Yes check all your connections for clean and tight grounds and Pwr feeds.
The starter main feed is not fused on any Honda from what I have ever seen.

My guess and thats all it is , is a bad starter or Poor connection. You could also do a Voltage drop test and see were your problem in the circut is

"Finally! A helpful person on HT."

Were all trying to help! Posting a comment like this is not going to get you the help you need from the rest of us.

C

Stunna MIKE

The 'click' kind of sounds like it is coming from under the dash.. I tried starting the car last night and my buddy hit the starter and it seemed like it did the trick.. but it only worked the first time we tried it.

The car is a 93 civic LX w/ b20 swap.

The starter and alt. are aftermarket.

Well, I have HID's and they usually turn off when the car starts, they don't dim.

And sorry about that stupid comment, I am not used to posting on the Tech section, most other sections aren't very helpful. sorry about that..

Canuck99

I think FCM above has the best place to start...you could also bench test the starter as well...just some other ideas...maybe also ask them were you bought it to test it as well. Seems like everything else has been checked

Good luck and let us know how it works out

fcm

If hitting the starter made it work, [even one time] then the problem is the starter or the starter solenoid. I would replace it. 94

lsef

i had the same issue ended up being a ground connection.

toasterboy

Check the ground..wire harness, alternator,,, o and diatributor cuz i had the same thing happen to my integra......it was somethin with the distributor....is there check enginelight?