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So I bought a 96 Honda Civic about a year ago and it has a b18a1 with some bolt ons and small modifications. Since I bought the car it's had an issue where when you turn the key to the on position the fans will immediately start running and the check engine light will come on if you turn the key over it will not start it will just crank once the check engine light goes off there's normally a whirling sound which I associated with the fuel pump and then the car will not only crank but start.

Has anyone else had this issue or a similar one?

What should be my first step to diagnose/fix the issue?

I'm going to start today with unplugging the fan relay that way the battery has all power to go to the fuel pump and excetera previously me sitting in the car just letting it "prime" (about 15 minutes on the higher end) the battery would eventually (after a few tries and it not turning over) become weakened to where it would barely turn the fans and would just kill the gauge lights. So with removing the relay for the fans I am hoping to diagnose whether or not it could be a power issue overtime as in the fuel pump doesn't have all the power that it needs so I could have bad wiring or Etc

like I said any and all help is appreciated!

it is entirely possible the issue could not lie in the fuel pump but who is the sound I heard from the whirling I assume it was, I could be wrong!

 
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Note: each time the car starts the amount of time it takes independent sometimes in warmer weather it seemed in the afternoon it would take around 5 minutes or less sometimes in the afternoon when I would go smoke on my lunch break it would take 10 minutes of priming and sometimes in the mornings it could take 20 minutes or more so it's never been consistent enough for me to nail it

 
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...what does the CEL say?

fix that first.

 
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I have a code reader for obd2 but sense the b18a1 is obd1 and the ecu has a jumper harness the ssd's scanner will not work, I literally JUST tried the paperclip method on both the service port and service connector and neither worked, so I have no f*king idea how to get the code read.

 
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Lol, oh gawd that sounds horrible!

If the fan only turns on when the CEL is on than I'd test the temperature sensor.

The temp sensor usually alters the A/F ratio to start in extream temperture conditions. If the sensor is faulty and reading hot when the engine is cold, than the AF ratio could be way off, causing a hard to start condition.

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if fan is always on with CEL off, test the sensor/circuit because either someone jumped the fan circuit together, or there is a short.

 
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Will do man, I'm unsure if they are ran to the switch or what. There is an aftermarket rad and I believe so are the fans