krudmuphin

iTrader: (1)

What a frantic day for me...

Spent 8 hours total today and yesterday cleaning my car inside and out, preparing for this car show.
Did some shopping this morning around town with no problems. Later when i turned the key to leave for the car show in Omaha... CAR DOESN'T START.

I spent a few hours tweaking cables, checking the battery, and getting the starter tested. All seems okay... I have no idea why the car won't start. I turn the ignition but it's followed by a frantic electrical "clicking" noise and then silence.

I hope I didn't screw something up when washing the engine bay yesterday


Anyways, I wasn't able to bring my car to the show, but I still went up with my friends. The show is an annual club hosted event called "Midwest Import Authority"

Here are some crappy iphone pictures. There was a nice K-swapped EM2 and a sweet ES2 as well. But none of my car.... Enjoy :P

This suuuuuccccckkkkssss

Kennykid2002

iTrader: (1)

Might have fried the starter

krudmuphin

iTrader: (1)

Nope. Removed the starer and solenoid and had them tested. Both work fine.

I read somewhere that it may actually be a battery issue, even though it reads 12.9 volts.
When I turn the key, it makes a rapid clicking sound and the dash lights and gauges spaz out and flash a bunch.

krudmuphin

iTrader: (1)

To make things worse, my 8 hours of intense washing, touch-ups, and waxing went to complete waste...

Car just got rained on because it's too heavy to roll into my garage without the engine running, haha

Today sucked hardcore

ezone

You did nearly everything except charge the battery.
If it will start with a jump, then charge and test the battery.

rjones7755

Hahahaha yes ^, thats what the car does when the battery's dead. Mine did exactly what you described, although I admit the rapid clicking noise does sounds unnerving.

krudmuphin

iTrader: (1)

The car did not start on a jump. I had the battery tested today and its pushing 13 volts and actually has more startup amps than its rated... Should I still try a new battery?

tbaleno

Maybe one of the fuses blew from under the hood?

ezone

Use the tools you already have (voltmeter).

Voltage drop test the starter circuits.

krudmuphin

iTrader: (1)

Okay, now I'm getting seriously frustrated...

Battery tested perfect. Starter and solenoid works. No blown fuses or relays. Ground wires are secure. Terminals are clean. Now what?!

A turn of the key makes all the dash lights flicker and a low buzz sound comes from under the steering column. The clicking from under the hood has stopped.

I'm extremely worried that I damaged something when power washing the engine bay. (I've done that 2 times before and never had a problem) Also I drove the car 3 times since then... sooo....

Last thing I wanna do is take it to my god awful dealership to have them charge me $2000 for a cheap hunk of plastic and some Doritos crumbs in my carpets.

ezone

......

krudmuphin

iTrader: (1)

Have good current through everything. The only one I'm not sure about is the cables that plug into the starter solenoid, unless I'm reading them wrong somehow. i.e. I'm not sure which prongs to connect to what in order to test them...

I'm very very very bad at electronics.

ezone

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=voltage+drop+test+on+a+starter

ezone

Measure battery voltage:

What does your battery voltage do when you turn the key on?

What does your battery voltage do when you crank it?

krudmuphin

iTrader: (1)

standing voltage - 12.9
key in acc. - 12.9
cranking - 13.1

ezone

Huh?
If the starter is working, the battery voltage can't rise during cranking.
Unless the rest of the car (loads) disconnect out of the circuit so the battery is now isolated electrically.

Doesn't this thing just click rapidly instead of cranking? Dash goes flicker and dim? Figure out where power got lost. Or ground.

krudmuphin

iTrader: (1)

Yeah, I have no idea WTF is going on. Tried reading again and this time the battery shows 9.8 when I turn the key. The starter is no longer clicking and all I hear is the buzzing. The dash still flickers like crazy.

Removed the starter/solenoid to have it tested yesterday and it apparently is good. When I test the cables to the solenoid I get 0.7, does that sound about right? That's such a small number, haha

ezone

Voltage drop test must be done while the circuit is loaded.

And your battery could be bad, or you are measuring at a point after the open/weak connection.

krudmuphin

iTrader: (1)

I know it must be frustrating for a knowledgeable person like you to try to explain this stuff through the internet to a noob like me, but unless I have someone here pointing to everything, I just can't do this kind of stuff the right way. Sorry, haha. I'm having some people take a look at it tomorrow and I'll get you more accurate information and readings to go off of.

ezone

Right. I can't easily explain the different ways I think when it comes to electricity and diagnosing something. Every situation is different and I don't have time to waste with fruitless attempts and guesses. Example: I would not have pulled the starter to have it checked, I test it in place on the car if at all possible.

I start diagnosing from the instant I turn the key and something unexpected happened. The moment it clicks without cranking, I started drawing a basic wiring diagram in my head and started planning where to test.

I've been trying to not go overboard with info, that would probably cause one of us to pull our hair out. I've had enough disasters for a nice Sunday already. LOL

rjones7755

If it drops below 9.6v on a load test it doesnt have enough power to start the car, you said 9.8v but if you have a basic multimeter it may not respond fast enough to display the absolute low of the starting process (which would occur right at the start when the starter turns the motor from a dead stop) The easiest way to isolate the problem would be to put in a known good battery and see if the car starts. If it doesnt, the battery may not be the problem.

Gunner

barrow a battery from someone and see if it works, That way you dont have to dish out the money if you dont want to.. just another option

krudmuphin

iTrader: (1)

Already tried a new battery and got nothing.

Anyways, it' too late for me to try anything else because my parents forced me to have it towed to the dealership this morning. (My parents own the car, so they have the final say)

On the plus side, now my car sits low as F#%K

Gunner

Do you know what was wrong with it yet? update when you do please

krudmuphin

iTrader: (1)

Just had it sent off. I'll let you know.
Hopefully it's not something completely simple and stupid.

But I forgot to mention that this morning the starter won't even click. There's absolute silence when i turn the ignition and no more flashing dash lights.

Kennykid2002

iTrader: (1)

You really needa debadge lol

krudmuphin

iTrader: (1)

Well that sucked. Thanks to my parents I just spent $200 to find out I had a bit of dirt under my ground wire connection. (which I was going to clean today anyway, but my parents called the towing company before I had a chance) It would've cost me nothing and taken about 10 minutes with some baking soda and water.

Worse yet, i got my car home before dark so I didn't notice anything, but the dealership f'd up my headlight. My passenger side HID (the seemingly more reliable one) won't light up now. I jiggled and reconnected every thing and I got it to come on for a few seconds, but very dim, then it went out again. The bulb looks good, but the ballast is completely silent.

When it rains for me, it pours...
And I cannot stand my local Honda Dealership. This is my 3rd bad experience with them

ezone

If THEY dragged it there, then THEY should take care of the bill IMHO.

Um, you could have solved this mess in 10 minutes if you learn better ways to use the tools you have. Solved before your parents had any idea there was something wrong.


Do you know for a fact that it worked before it left your sight? (Does not really matter.)
Why would you think the dealer people would purposely mess with your headlight?
Did you leave the ballast or wiring in such a place that it would have been hit by yanking the battery out, or the cables?
Could YOU have done it when you changed the battery??
Could YOU have done it when you powerwashed the engine compartment? (YES!)
I have seen the cheap HID ballasts with water damage to the circuit board, the box isn't sealed well and electronics don't mix with water at all.
Dealing with a broken car is stressful for anyone.

krudmuphin

iTrader: (1)

I wholeheartedly agree.

True, cleaning the ground should've been my first intuition. All I did was tighten them.


Absolutely positive. I checked all the lights and accessories this morning before it got towed away, exactly for this reason.

No they wouldn't do it on purpose. My ballast, ingitor, and all the wiring run up the side of the fender, far away from the battery, all neatly tucked. When I got my car back, the wires were fallen out of place, tangled, and my ballast came dismounted. All was not like that when it left my care. I haven't touched the battery since.

Possibly, but that is a major time delay for water damage (3 whole days?) and way too convenient to break after I got the car worked on.

[QUOTE=ezone;4638119]I have seen the cheap HID ballasts with water damage to the circuit board, the box isn't sealed well and electronics don't mix with water at all.[\QUOTE]
Truth. And I planned on getting Morimoto ballasts as soon as these die out.

Indeed.

ezone

You think someone there would have needed a working ballast and swapped with yours?


3 days is plenty of time for corrosion to set in. Water damage effects aren't always immediate.

Swap ballasts to make sure that is the problem......then
Open up the ballast box and look for evidence of water damage.


I know that if *I* touched one of those in any way that was not absolutely necessary to perform a task, and a customer complained (to the right person/people) that *I* caused it to quit, the shop would probably eat it. Wouldn't really matter if *I* actually caused it or not or if the customer is lying through their teeth about the entire thing.