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#1
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92 Civic, all electricity dies, comes back
Hi,
The car is a 92 Civic EX. My wife had reported a couple of times that it failed to crank, but I was assuming the clutch switch was being a little two picky. It's now happening to me, but it's not the clutch switch. When you go to start the car, there is electric power, warning lights come on, etc. When you first try to engage the starter, everything dies, as if the battery has been disconnected (or a fusible link blown). The first time it happened, I was looking around for a main relay that needed reset, but it reset on its own (probably less than a minute). It's now happened a couple of more times. The power is actually totally disconnected (for example, the radio pre-sets are gone, no lights, no nothing). I look at the circuit diagram, and see an "electronic load detector" and a couple of big fuses, but from what I read about that on usenet, this doesn't seem to be the failure mode. I search (usenet) for "main relay" and that seems to be the PGM relay, which has a whole 'nother set of symptoms. I've got a pretty crappy manual (chilton's) and it's not much help. Any ideas or advice? thanks, Hank |
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#2
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92 Civic, all electricity dies, comes back
Hank wrote:
> Hi, > > The car is a 92 Civic EX. My wife had reported a couple of times that > it failed to crank, but I was assuming the clutch switch was being a > little two picky. It's now happening to me, but it's not the clutch > switch. > > When you go to start the car, there is electric power, warning lights > come on, etc. When you first try to engage the starter, everything > dies, as if the battery has been disconnected (or a fusible link > blown). The first time it happened, I was looking around for a main > relay that needed reset, but it reset on its own (probably less than a > minute). It's now happened a couple of more times. The power is > actually totally disconnected (for example, the radio pre-sets are > gone, no lights, no nothing). > > I look at the circuit diagram, and see an "electronic load detector" > and a couple of big fuses, but from what I read about that on usenet, > this doesn't seem to be the failure mode. I search (usenet) for "main > relay" and that seems to be the PGM relay, which has a whole 'nother > set of symptoms. > > I've got a pretty crappy manual (chilton's) and it's not much help. > > Any ideas or advice? > > thanks, > > Hank > -------------------------------- Have you heard a 'snap' under the hood when this happens? It's often the chassis end of the ground cable (black) from the battery. Corrosion on a '92 gets in between the bolt and chassis. Also, unbolt the battery terminals and inspect. Coat with vaseline and put it all back together. 'Curly' |
#3
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92 Civic, all electricity dies, comes back
On Apr 22, 1:15 am, motsco_ > wrote:
> Hank wrote: > > Hi, > > > The car is a 92 Civic EX. My wife had reported a couple of times that > > it failed to crank, but I was assuming the clutch switch was being a > > little two picky. It's now happening to me, but it's not the clutch > > switch. > > > When you go to start the car, there is electric power, warning lights > > come on, etc. When you first try to engage the starter, everything > > dies, as if the battery has been disconnected (or a fusible link > > blown). The first time it happened, I was looking around for a main > > relay that needed reset, but it reset on its own (probably less than a > > minute). It's now happened a couple of more times. The power is > > actually totally disconnected (for example, the radio pre-sets are > > gone, no lights, no nothing). > > > I look at the circuit diagram, and see an "electronic load detector" > > and a couple of big fuses, but from what I read about that on usenet, > > this doesn't seem to be the failure mode. I search (usenet) for "main > > relay" and that seems to be the PGM relay, which has a whole 'nother > > set of symptoms. > > > I've got a pretty crappy manual (chilton's) and it's not much help. > > > Any ideas or advice? > > > thanks, > > > Hank > > -------------------------------- > > Have you heard a 'snap' under the hood when this happens? It's often the > chassis end of the ground cable (black) from the battery. Corrosion on a > '92 gets in between the bolt and chassis. Also, unbolt the battery > terminals and inspect. Coat with vaseline and put it all back together. > > 'Curly'- Yeah, your symptoms indicate that the battery can't push that much juice through the system, so it must be something pretty early up the chain. Could be 1) the battery itself 2) The connections to the battery terminals 3) the connections to the chassis or (rarely) the fusebox. |
#4
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Clean your battery terminals! [nt]
Hank wrote:
> Hi, > > The car is a 92 Civic EX. My wife had reported a couple of times that > it failed to crank, but I was assuming the clutch switch was being a > little two picky. It's now happening to me, but it's not the clutch > switch. > > When you go to start the car, there is electric power, warning lights > come on, etc. When you first try to engage the starter, everything > dies, as if the battery has been disconnected (or a fusible link > blown). The first time it happened, I was looking around for a main > relay that needed reset, but it reset on its own (probably less than a > minute). It's now happened a couple of more times. The power is > actually totally disconnected (for example, the radio pre-sets are > gone, no lights, no nothing). > > I look at the circuit diagram, and see an "electronic load detector" > and a couple of big fuses, but from what I read about that on usenet, > this doesn't seem to be the failure mode. I search (usenet) for "main > relay" and that seems to be the PGM relay, which has a whole 'nother > set of symptoms. > > I've got a pretty crappy manual (chilton's) and it's not much help. > > Any ideas or advice? > > thanks, > > Hank > |
#5
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92 Civic, all electricity dies, comes back
On Apr 23, 10:08 am, z > wrote:
> On Apr 22, 1:15 am, motsco_ > wrote: > > > > > Hank wrote: > > > Hi, > > > > The car is a 92 Civic EX. My wife had reported a couple of times that > > > it failed to crank, but I was assuming the clutch switch was being a > > > little two picky. It's now happening to me, but it's not the clutch > > > switch. > > > > When you go to start the car, there is electric power, warning lights > > > come on, etc. When you first try to engage the starter, everything > > > dies, as if the battery has been disconnected (or a fusible link > > > blown). The first time it happened, I was looking around for a main > > > relay that needed reset, but it reset on its own (probably less than a > > > minute). It's now happened a couple of more times. The power is > > > actually totally disconnected (for example, the radio pre-sets are > > > gone, no lights, no nothing). > > > > I look at the circuit diagram, and see an "electronic load detector" > > > and a couple of big fuses, but from what I read about that on usenet, > > > this doesn't seem to be the failure mode. I search (usenet) for "main > > > relay" and that seems to be the PGM relay, which has a whole 'nother > > > set of symptoms. > > > > I've got a pretty crappy manual (chilton's) and it's not much help. > > > > Any ideas or advice? > > > > thanks, > > > > Hank > > > -------------------------------- > > > Have you heard a 'snap' under the hood when this happens? It's often the > > chassis end of the ground cable (black) from the battery. Corrosion on a > > '92 gets in between the bolt and chassis. Also, unbolt the battery > > terminals and inspect. Coat with vaseline and put it all back together. > > > 'Curly'- > > Yeah, your symptoms indicate that the battery can't push that much > juice through the system, so it must be something pretty early up the > chain. Could be > 1) the battery itself > 2) The connections to the battery terminals > 3) the connections to the chassis or (rarely) the fusebox. Thanks, It's actually pretty embarrassing. The positive terminal was loose. I had cleaned and vasolined them about a year ago, and tightened the clamp down. The clamp was as tight as it would go, but it had slid up enough (along the tapered post) that I could wiggle it by hand. The first time it didn't work I had looked in the underhood fuse box. When I found no relays there I looked at the negative terminal, and wiggled it. I then asked her to try it again, and it started, so I never even grabbed onto the positive terminal. Thanks again, |
#6
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92 Civic, all electricity dies, comes back
On Apr 24, 10:50 pm, Hank > wrote:
> On Apr 23, 10:08 am, z > wrote: > > > > > > > On Apr 22, 1:15 am, motsco_ > wrote: > > > > Hank wrote: > > > > Hi, > > > > > The car is a 92 Civic EX. My wife had reported a couple of times that > > > > it failed to crank, but I was assuming the clutch switch was being a > > > > little two picky. It's now happening to me, but it's not the clutch > > > > switch. > > > > > When you go to start the car, there is electric power, warning lights > > > > come on, etc. When you first try to engage the starter, everything > > > > dies, as if the battery has been disconnected (or a fusible link > > > > blown). The first time it happened, I was looking around for a main > > > > relay that needed reset, but it reset on its own (probably less than a > > > > minute). It's now happened a couple of more times. The power is > > > > actually totally disconnected (for example, the radio pre-sets are > > > > gone, no lights, no nothing). > > > > > I look at the circuit diagram, and see an "electronic load detector" > > > > and a couple of big fuses, but from what I read about that on usenet, > > > > this doesn't seem to be the failure mode. I search (usenet) for "main > > > > relay" and that seems to be the PGM relay, which has a whole 'nother > > > > set of symptoms. > > > > > I've got a pretty crappy manual (chilton's) and it's not much help. > > > > > Any ideas or advice? > > > > > thanks, > > > > > Hank > > > > -------------------------------- > > > > Have you heard a 'snap' under the hood when this happens? It's often the > > > chassis end of the ground cable (black) from the battery. Corrosion on a > > > '92 gets in between the bolt and chassis. Also, unbolt the battery > > > terminals and inspect. Coat with vaseline and put it all back together. > > > > 'Curly'- > > > Yeah, your symptoms indicate that the battery can't push that much > > juice through the system, so it must be something pretty early up the > > chain. Could be > > 1) the battery itself > > 2) The connections to the battery terminals > > 3) the connections to the chassis or (rarely) the fusebox. > > Thanks, > > It's actually pretty embarrassing. The positive terminal was loose. > I had cleaned and vasolined them about a year ago, and tightened the > clamp down. The clamp was as tight as it would go, but it had slid up > enough (along the tapered post) that I could wiggle it by hand. > > The first time it didn't work I had looked in the underhood fuse box. > When I found no relays there I looked at the negative terminal, and > wiggled it. I then asked her to try it again, and it started, so I > never even grabbed onto the positive terminal. > > Thanks again My patented methodology when faced with a car that won't crank: 1) get something heavy 2) give the battery terminals a whack 3) if that doesn't fix it, give the starter and/or solenoid a whack |
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