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Hi all! I finally took the time to register here after years of finding valuable and time saving advice over the years of owning various Hondas. I am not a mechanic or electrician by trade but, enjoy working my Hondas all thru the years. This one has me stumped and beyond.
This is my daughter's beast that's having the no start trouble. I will do my best to describe the problem. Here goes:

Last week, on our first warm day in CNY it decided it would turn over but no start. First thing I noticed was that after putting the key in the 2nd position I'd hear the fuel pump kick on but stay on and heard no click from the main relay. So, I go and buy a new main relay. NOPE. Does the same thing, just cranks and cranks. So i put the old relay back in and tried to start it up. Go figure, it starts up. So I shut her off and try to start again. Then more cranking but no start. Noticed again that the fuel pump kicks on and stays on and again no click from the main relay. Another thing I noticed from bouncing around in the forums was that someone threw the question out there of whether there was a bunch of junk hanging from the keys. Again, it's my daughter's car, and go figure she had everything but the kitchen sink hanging from her keys. Also, I did notice there's a lot of play when the key is in the ignition. All dash lights seem to be working but I do notice the CEL stays on but throws no code. I only have the 1 key for the car so I thought I might try having a new key cut but my wife took the key to Walmart to be made and apparently they didn't have the template for it. I doubted this was the issue being it'd be too lucky for me to have it be a $5 key replacement. Another thing I am noticing is that while pressing the brake (key in and turned or not) I cannot put it into any gear unless I use the tab on the shift column to shift into R, N, D4, etc. I don't hear a click while pressing the brake to allow me to put in gear. So,.....I'm taking to the forums to see what advice I can get from a gaggle of Honda geeks. I would be indebted if I could get assistance with this issue.

Bare in mind I do own a multimeter, but again, I'm not an electrician. I feel like it's something silly like a ground wire but am absolutely stumped. Thank you all in advance!

 
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Check the continuity of the ignition switch, I had to replace one in my girlfriend's 99, wasn't very hard to do and only $30-$40 on rockauto

 
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I did check the ignition switch. It checked out fine.

 
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So I got around to having a new key cut and and after hooking the battery up to another car (was worn down after trying to crank so much over the past few days) i put the new key in and it, turned to 2nd position, heard the fuel pump kick on and then back off, click from the relay and boom, it started right up. I let it run for 15 mins or so to charge the battery and it's been starting up on it's own just fine. I guess my question at this point is: with having a new key cut and that's the only difference to the car at this point, does that really prove that it was the ignition lock cylinder? Like a bad tumbler in the mechanism and the new key manages to make it work but i feel that'll be temporary in the long run. I feel like it does prove it but I figured i'd update the post and see what y'all think. Thx in advance!

 
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The mechanical part of the key cylinder doesn't have any affect on the electrical part besides rotating the contacts to start the car if the correct key is inserted. If you could rotate the key normally before then that is not your problem.
Checked all the grounds? Battery terminals, and the wires going in to the terminals? Starter connections?

 
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Just re read your initial post, do the brake lights come on when you press the pedal? If the solenoid for the shift interlock isn't working, the brake switch might be part of the problem.
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Funny you should ask that! Although the brake lights are working, I did notice something peculiar in the midst of all this problem. The times it wouldn't start and just crank and crank, I'd have the brake depressed and not hear the click from the shift panel that allows you to shift into drive. Also, I noticed when it did finally start (after jumping it due to low battery) that sometimes the D4 was lit up on the dash while in park. I thought it was very strange. Yet another thing I noticed after I had got it started was that when I let it run for 15 minutes to charge the battery and then shut it off, tried to restart, it started one time after another, BUT the new key didn't really want to come out of the ignition until I pressed the shifter button and tried to get the key out again, to which it came right out. That's sorta why I pointed the finger at the ignition lock cylinder. It still sits in my driveway starting regularly. Being the weekend I haven't ordered the part so any further advice would be appreciated. I'm not really great with electrical but I have a multimeter and can follow directions. As far as ground wires, I'm a bit clueless, although I did find a threat that mentioned checking ground wire G101 off the thermostat housing. I did disconnect it and sand it down to be sure it had a good connection. It seemed fine to begin with but i wasn't really sure what to be checking for. I figure at this point with it now starting, that a ground wire is less likely now after days and days of not starting. The only thing i really did at this point was jump it because the battery had worn down. I'm a bit baffled as to what's really going on. The new key just feels better going in and turning. It still was tough to get back out but was able to as long as I pressed the button on the shifter just right. It's friggen weird!

 
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The range switch underneath the shifter that tells the computer what gear you're in might be on the way out. I had to replace that about a year after the ignition switch.

 
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Awesome man! I think you may be correct. Is there any way I can test this? Thankfully I already have the console around the shift panel taken apart. This is my daughter's car and I don't want to risk her getting stranded somewhere so I haven't allowed her to drive it as of yet. I'll get ahold of my local parts guy and get one on the way. I'll post again when the part gets here. Judging by the looks of the part, it looks pretty straightforward. Thx so much for your help and quick responses.

 
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One more thing I want to point out. All hassle of not being able to get the key out or the brake pedal not making a click sound in the shifting unit went away when I jumped the car off my car. I read somewhere that the shift solenoid won't work properly with a dead battery. The battery wore after days of tinkering around with this problem. Once I jumped the battery the shift solenoid has worked properly since. With that, I sorta think the solenoid is fine being it has been fine since being jumped. I went out this morning and started it up 10+ times and was able to move the gear shifter while running remove the key with no problem once I shut it off. I am totally not against replacing it, but my daughter thinks the end of the world has come because I won't let her drive it yet. I won't put anything back together or give her the green light until I know for sure. Taking consoles apart and back together is something I'd rather avoid. But, out where we live it'll be a couple of days before I can get my hands on the part. By that time the end of the world will certainly have come for my daughter! lmao

 
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On mine the park contact burned out (400k kms)
so it wouldn't start in park, but it would in neutral.
I got mine from Honda because by the time you added on shipping it was the same price as the one from rockauto. I think I had mine changed out in 30 mins start to finish

 
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I did try to start in neutral with no luck, but that was back when the battery was worn down. seems to shift with no problem since having jumped the battery. My daughter being broke, it'll be me who drops the cash for the part as you said, it's a half-hour job. She's just peeved that I don't want to put all the console stuff back together until I get the shift lever solenoid. I have the steering column console apart, the passenger kick panel (to get to the ecu) apart, the glove box dropped (to get to the main relay), as well as the shift lever console. So she's left thinking she has this ghetto car (it was before) that she can't even drive. Thank you so much for your insight! It sounds to me that you are 100% correct!

 
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Tell her it's for weight reduction

 
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Just came here to say that I believe the only thing wrong was the key itself, that it was simply no longer accepted by the car as being legitimate due to damage to the chip in the key perhaps. I have a 2003 civic and I was testing this cheap Honda key programmer that I'd gotten for my Honda pilot keys. It wasn't working and I really wasn't sure if the unit was completely defective or if I was doing something wrong so I tried it in my civic without completing the process. Well little did I know that i unpaired that key from the car. Luckily I had two keys and the unpaired one was the valet key which I only used if I lost the main one. Well a few months later I lost my main key and took the valet key which always used to drive the car, but it would only crank but not start. No one could figure it out including me. To avoid a parking ticket I pushed it into the driveway and posted in here trying to figure out the problem. It was simply the key all along. The next time I got the keys mixed up I was once again confused why the car wouldn't start. I came back on here but couldn't figure it out. I fell asleep reading and woke up and I was on your post. As I was reading it was very clear...it was the key. It wasn't until reading your post that I was reminded of it. And there's nothing in this thread that leads me to believe that's not your problem as well. So I just wanted to propose that as a more simple explanation than all of these other theories. I'm sure you've got this solved by now but just wanted to add this in case it helps someone else.

 
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Glad you got yours figured out, not applicable here because the 2000 does not have a chip key. Good info though