twtron

I have a 2005 Honda Civic, 266k+ miles, well maintained.


Went to start it and just as I turned the ignition, it began to start and died; totally died, no dome light, no dash lights, nothing.


I purchased a new battery hoping it might be a dead short cell. They tested the old battery and only found a weak cell. I came home installed the new battery, tightening with gel on the connectors; no change.


I checked the 15 amp ECU fuse in the fuse panel under the hood and it was good.


Any ideas?

ezone

Remove the red and black caps from the battery posts before installing the cables?

Does the horn work? Hazard flashers work?


Voltage drop testing FTW. Google for how to's?

twtron

Of course I removed the caps before installing the cables...lol


There is no power whatsoever, no dash, no dome, nada. I can insert the key and turn it as if it start the car, but nothing happens. No alarms, lights, etc...


The battery is brand new, as stated before and the old battery wasn't totally dead when tested, only had a weak cell, and yes, the new battery was installed properly.


The thing to note here is, when it died, it actually began to start like normal for a fraction of a second then everything died.

ezone

This is USUALLY a poor connection somewhere between the battery posts and the car. Could include corroded cable ends, connection between clamped on end and the wire (crimp connection on original cables, bolted connection if it has cheap replacement terminals), bolted connections at the fusebox or bolted ground points on body or trans.

Volt drop testing is the way to pinpoint the issue.



Other common thing that happens mostly when someone touches jumper cables backwards or battery cables backwards is it blows the biggest fuse in the underhood box. 80/100 amp or something like that.

twtron

I have not tried to jump it, but only installed the new battery.


I checked the 80 amp fuse along with all the other fuses. It looked good, but I did not ohm it out.


Later today I will ohm out the neg. cable back to the fuse panel and see what I get also.

ezone

No need to ohm.
Use the voltmeter: Got +12v on both sides of the fuse?


Positive cable goes to the fuse box.


Voltage drop test is far more effective than an ohm test when working on live circuits.

twtron

Ok, good point on the Voltage drop vs. Ohm-ing out.


I'll check both sides of the fuse and yes, pos. goes back to the fuse box, which I'll check it also.


I had a tractor ground cable break inside the insulation before, so I will definitely ohm out the ground cable to be safe.


Thanks for all the tips, keep-em coming.