On Apr 24, 10:50 pm, Hank > wrote:
> On Apr 23, 10:08 am, z > wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > 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.
>
> Thanks,
>
> It's actually pretty embarrassing. The positive terminal was loose.
> I had cleaned and vasolined them about a year ago, and tightened the
> clamp down. The clamp was as tight as it would go, but it had slid up
> enough (along the tapered post) that I could wiggle it by hand.
>
> The first time it didn't work I had looked in the underhood fuse box.
> When I found no relays there I looked at the negative terminal, and
> wiggled it. I then asked her to try it again, and it started, so I
> never even grabbed onto the positive terminal.
>
> Thanks again

My patented methodology when faced with a car that won't crank:
1) get something heavy
2) give the battery terminals a whack
3) if that doesn't fix it, give the starter and/or solenoid a whack