Bobbyk

Hey guys,

I have a 4 door 2007 Civic and last night out of no where the car wouldn't stay on anymore. It starts fine and then shuts off after two seconds regardless if I rev the gas pedal or not. Also all the lights in the cluster display are out!! The headlight, windows and some electrical components in the car work but nothing on the display, it's completely dark.

The car has 150k on it and gave me problem with the battery last week as it stalled and I had to get a boost. I then took out the battery and charged it with my Motorcycle trickle charger! It worked fine till last night. So when this problem happened I first thought there might be something wrong with the battery and I replaced it today but nothing changed. It starts and then the car shut off in a couple of seconds with the cluster light being out.

I did some research online to check if there's something wrong with my alternator, fuel pump or crank sensor but none of these explain the cluster display not turning on. So my guess right now is that maybe a burned fuse or the main computer?!

Any suggestions? Thanks

jordan1794

Several things that could be at fault...

Mainly sounds like once the car is on, it's not generating power.

Check the alternator connections, the wires leaving the alt and going to the battery. Also check the wire grounding the engine block to the chassis, should be right near the alternator.You should be looking for corrosion that may have built up and is insulating the wires from passing electricity.

Another common problem is corrosion at the battery ground, follow the negative cable from the battery to the chassis, unscrew the bolt and check for corrosion, sand any corrosion you see away and hook everything back up.

Thirdly, check the terminals that attach to the battery itself for corrosion.


If it's none of those things, post back and we can delve deeper.(Although after those potential fixes, my knowledge if very limited.)

ezone

At the 2 seconds point when the engine dies: Is the green key symbol flashing angrily?? Or is the cluster completely dark the entire time?

Check all fuses in both fuseboxes.



Disconnect the battery, short the cables together for 10 minutes. Make sure the ignition is off and the key is out of the car, and reconnect the battery. See if anything changes, since this is effectively a reboot of sorts.

Bobbyk

I checked all the connections for the alternator and surroundings and they all seemed to be fine and I didn’t see anything out of place.
I checked the battery for corrosion and sanded both negative and positive terminals too and I still have the same problem as the car starts and dies in under 2 seconds. I also checked all the fuses, please check my detailed reply below. Please let me know if there’s anything else I can check. Thanks

Bobbyk

I just bought an Electrical continuity tester and checked all the fuses under the hood and inside the car.

Here's my finding so far along with some pictures of the fuse boxs:

Fuses under the hood: all fuses worked except the Oil level number 15 fuse which I replaced with a new fuse and still wouldn't get any power from it.

Fuses inside the car: Only fuses number 18, 21, 25, 28, 29 worked and I was getting the red power light in my tester. The rest of the fuses didn't work. I'd say roughly 5 fuses that worked and about 15 didn't work.

Is this normal?

I also disconnected the battery and shorted the negative and positive cables for 10 mins and tried to turn on the car and the problem still exist as the car would turn on for 2 seconds and then die.

Any other suggestions? Thanks

ezone

Can you explain more about this? Is it a test light? A buzzer?

Did you have the ignition key on when you checked the fuses? The key needs to be on in order to power up many different circuits.

Bobbyk

Yes I used a test light (attached).

oops I tested them without the key in the ignition!!

I'm on my way to check them out again and will update in the next half hour! Thanks!

ezone

Ok
I figured that's why you found so few with power.

You're touching the light to each of the exposed pins (2) on each fuse, right?



And....the fuses for the headlights won't show power unless the headights are on.

Bobbyk

The car is fixed!!!!

I checked the fuses with the key in ignition and most of the ones that weren't working before started working. The only one that didn't work was number 10 and it looked blown out when I removed it. As soon as I replaced fuse number 10 the cluster display lights came back on and I had a feeling if I start the car it would work and just as I thought the car started and stayed on this time!!

The fuses from 12 to 17 didn't work and I was going to ask why before I read your comment. I checked the fuse map and 12 to 17 are for the headlight and the lights were off when I checked the fuse. I'm pretty sure they work as I just drove the car for half hour at night time.

Everything is working fine except that I have a check engine light on now. I'm thinking that's probably because of disconnecting the battery, removing the fuses and shorting the negative positive battery terminals many times.

I just ordered an auto diagnostic tool on Ebay which hopefully will erase the code.

"EZONE" you are awesome thank you!!

I'd like to thank all you guys taking the time to help me out and wish every one a Merry xmas!!

ezone

Just remember that fuse blew for a reason, it may blow again in the future so be prepared for it.

Fuse 10, 7.5amp:

gauges
speedo
tach
shift lock solenoid
MICU

Bobbyk

I think I blew it when I replaced the battery maybe but I'll keep an eye on it. Thank you!