On Apr 22, 1:15 am, motsco_ > wrote:
> Hank wrote:
> > Hi,
>
> > The car is a 92 Civic EX. My wife had reported a couple of times that
> > it failed to crank, but I was assuming the clutch switch was being a
> > little two picky. It's now happening to me, but it's not the clutch
> > switch.
>
> > When you go to start the car, there is electric power, warning lights
> > come on, etc. When you first try to engage the starter, everything
> > dies, as if the battery has been disconnected (or a fusible link
> > blown). The first time it happened, I was looking around for a main
> > relay that needed reset, but it reset on its own (probably less than a
> > minute). It's now happened a couple of more times. The power is
> > actually totally disconnected (for example, the radio pre-sets are
> > gone, no lights, no nothing).
>
> > I look at the circuit diagram, and see an "electronic load detector"
> > and a couple of big fuses, but from what I read about that on usenet,
> > this doesn't seem to be the failure mode. I search (usenet) for "main
> > relay" and that seems to be the PGM relay, which has a whole 'nother
> > set of symptoms.
>
> > I've got a pretty crappy manual (chilton's) and it's not much help.
>
> > Any ideas or advice?
>
> > thanks,
>
> > Hank
>
> --------------------------------
>
> Have you heard a 'snap' under the hood when this happens? It's often the
> chassis end of the ground cable (black) from the battery. Corrosion on a
> '92 gets in between the bolt and chassis. Also, unbolt the battery
> terminals and inspect. Coat with vaseline and put it all back together.
>
> 'Curly'-

Yeah, your symptoms indicate that the battery can't push that much
juice through the system, so it must be something pretty early up the
chain. Could be
1) the battery itself
2) The connections to the battery terminals
3) the connections to the chassis or (rarely) the fusebox.