Why Won’t My Honda Civic Start
Posted in Headlight Bulbs | Asked on Feb 1, 2011
I have a 1999 Honda Civic hatchback and it is dead! The engine won’t turn over, the headlights won’t turn on, nothing! I replaced the battery with a new one, but still nothing. There was a lot of white and blue residue powder on the old one. My brother-in-law thinks it is either the battery cable that connects to the car’s computer or it could be the starter. And yes, it has gas in it.
Thanks, I will try getting a multimeter.
Yes, the cable connections were cleaned.
Brother-in-law checked the fuses under the dash, near the steering column.
Fuses looked ok. Will try looking for “inertia switcher”.
Still keeping “karma” open as a possibility, I should never have given my Civic to my mom and replaced it with a Fit. My fuel economy on the Fit sucks a** and my Civic decided to revolt by pulling this crap on me. I’m sorry baby, I won’t take you for granted ever again!!!
There are 12 Answers for "Why Won’t My Honda Civic Start"
Probably the inertia switch.
Every car made since the mid ’70s has an “inertia switch” that cuts off power and/or fuel to prevent a fire in the case of an accident.
I don’t know where yours is located, perhaps an internet search can reveal it to you. On my son’s Jaguar, it was just below the dashboard near the passenger side door.
Less likely is the fusable link. I had an old Honda, and it had a “master fuse” called a fusable link. It was a high-amperage fuse that prevented a major short from doing any damage. It never went bad, I just knew it was there. Boy those Hondas are good.
If it wont turn over or anything and you have no lights at all on it, it has to be a bad connection especially with a new battery in it,you,ll need to check every connection from the battery to the starter,and also every ground wire from the negative battery side also,good luck i hope you find it.
Did you clean the battery clamps before installing the battery? Check the – batt cable for a good ground. Follow the + cable to the fuse box and check for corrosion, greenish in color, lastly there is a main fuse/link that could be the problem. in the fuse box under the hood. Good luck. Ps: make sure the battery is fully charged.
Brother in law is right, battery cables. You can check it with a multimeter. Check the voltage from the terminals of the battery and then from the connector on the cables. It should not vary by more than half a volt. A quick fix for cleaning them is to pour some Coke on connectors of the battery.
Buy youserlf a multimeter from walmart about 10 bucks or so. locate the positive cable…follow it to your cars fuse box. place the black wire on the multimeter to a ground…(the chasis or any exposed rust free metal surface) then with the red wire from the meter place on the end of the positve battery cable…if u get a reading its not your baterry cable. next make sure your ground wires are all in order. if u havnt a ground connection nothing will work… your head lights should turn on even if your relay and or ignition is stuck or screwed. its def a problem with your ground i would say. if that doesnt work, email me and i will take u thru step by step.
Karma. You were thinking of going to the bar and cheating on your boyfriend, weren’t you. That’s why you were trying to start the car.
Oh, you were going to work. That’s different.
Well, the starter is dead or the timing belt is fused, locked. Does it crank?
My car did this. The ground wire (that goes from car to battery) wasn’t on tight enough. Also, as someone mentioned fuel pump shut off switch (some are found on driver floorboard) There are many reasons for this to happen. Get a repair book from auto zone and start reading symptoms, pretty soon you’ll find your answer! GOOD LUCK
ALSO I changed a fuel pump relay and ASD relay and Coil pack.
It might me as simple as the ground cable for the engine. check the owners manual under boost. it should show you how to boost up your engine in case of dead battery. I’ve got a 03 Accord LX with 86k on I just checked my ground cable yesterday. You woulnd’t believe how crappy it looks.
If it’s not that check with a mechanic, maybe your starter or the alternatior is gone. it could be something simple that you can’t see.
do you have a remote starter/security alarm? Sometime there are people who like to have a hidden switch installed that disconnects the battery power from the entire vhicle (for theft purposes). I’d look around the dash board, driver’s leg room, passenger’s legroom, glove compartment or under the hood.
GoOd LuCk
Honda has a main fuse under the hood. Consult your owners manual or buy a repair manual from your local parts store. Its easy and you can do it yourself.
Maybe the ECU
Wolnt turn over or headlights or nothing…have u looked at the main power fuse in the under hood fuse box? and have u checked that the batter is in correct..ie red to postitve and black to neg……for the car to be completly dead theres somethign major wrong….one other thing i have seen is people put a battery in and leave the little black and red plastic on the terminals these need to be removed before installing the battery
Because its a honda