2jzs2000

hello everyone! im a big honda and toyota fanboy, ive got a 2jz swapped s2000 sitting next to my problem in the garage. My problem is my 2007 honda civic 1.8L automatic with 75k miles. almost exactly a year ago i was having problems with my car starting, it had all the symptions of a dead battery, so i replaced it with a cheap Exide brand battery (2 yr warranty), about fall the battery failed and i replaced/upgraded it to an ACdelco battery. yet I still had intermittent starting problems. when you would turn the key to crank the starter would do nothing and the car would overall act like it had a dead battery. but if you tried to crank it again a few minutes later it will start up like it never had an issue, I replaced the starter thinking it had a dead spot in the motor, and i still have problems.
CURRENT SYMPTIONS
When turning car on, it does not react to starter input randomly
When this happens the car will lose its clock settings and i have to reset it and the radio code
cranks over strong when no issue is happening

Currently done
Replaced starter with aftermarket one
replaced battery
inspected cables and grounds plus harness

Any ideas guys? ive been tinkering away with this for a bit doing inspections but im unfamiliar with the BCM and harness issues with this body of car so im just shot gunning parts at this point. next step i think is that im going to attach a light to the starter wire and confirm i am getting relay input to the starter. its so intermittent that i am unable to replicate it in the garage. please help!!

ezone

Neg batt cable attaches to the body....Take that apart, wire wheel it, clean through the paint to bare metal, wire wheel the corrosion off the bolt
I like to smear some silicone grease on the bare metal for protection

The other cable in the pic goes from body to transmission, clean the snot out of that one too, on both ends

If someone installed the cheap battery terminals, the cables are probably corroded too. Good place for bad connections.

2jzs2000

Ill blast the grounds tonight when i get home and see how it goes, it was old lady own and sat around so i bet your not far off. my main battery terminals are both factory and very clean so i know they are at least not suspected. heres hoping we can keep this fix simple!

2jzs2000

Cleaned the grounds last night, its amazing how honda engineered two 10mm bolts to ground the whole engine, i was surprised at how small they are. cleaned grounds and same problem starting this morning, but now it sounds like the starter solenoid for the SECOND time on a TYE brand starter, cant recommend them. I purchased a used starter with 50k out of a 2011 that ill be installing tonight and hope my problem has been these junky starters. well see if the problem sticks around with a factory part installed.

ezone

Soooo now this time it's not losing all power to the dash and locking up the radio? So fixing grounds was an improvement

Yea there have been complaints about short lived starters, and many cheapo aftermarket units can be craptacular.

2jzs2000

Time will tell if the clock stops losing function, but the starter is obviously going out again so Im focusing on that. As long as the thing starts every time the clock can read 13oclock for all i care. the clock seemed to go out in conjunction with the car not starting so it was a symption of the problem. i will not be surprised if fixing the grounds up does eliminate the clock problem though, they were fairly corroded.

you could hear the solenoid banging the drive gear off of the flexplate like the last one did before. total junk, Ive heard that about this year range honda starters which is why i assumed so powerfully it was solely a starter issue.