BustedS13

i'm finding a lot of threads with the same problem but never any real resolution.

i have a '97 3.0CL. yesterday it was about a hundred out. i'm a delivery driver (the recession kicked my ass, whatever). so i'm driving all day, car's starting up fine all day, everything's cool. then i come back to the store, park it, come back out maybe 10 minutes later, and it won't start. all the lights work, radio works, but when you turn the key, you hear a click (from inside the cabin, NOT FROM THE STARTER), and nothing happens. no starter crank whatsoever.
now, here's the really weird part. one of the other drivers has an '01 TL S, and he parked next to me, and was going to give me a jump, but when he went to start his car, it did the EXACT SAME THING for about half an hour, then it started right up. mine's still stranded, though.

i've tried tapping the starter while turning the key, absolutely nothing came from it.

so i'm reading it could be:

-ignition switch (apparently these were a recall?)
-starter solenoid

and it couldn't be:
-immobilizer (they didn't have these on the '97 models apparently)

but the heat thing and the fact that another acura failed identically at the same time makes me wonder about the main relay. where is it on this car?

BustedS13

i'm about to go check it out with a multimeter. if i find that no power is getting to the starter (aka it's some misc. electrical problem, not the starter itself), can i just jump power from the battery to the starter with some alligator clips or something, just to get it home? would that work?

BustedS13

update: checked for voltage at the starter. there's a black/white wire that's pretty easy to get to, and with the key turned to try starting, it gets 12 volts. can somebody come in here and tell me this a clean-cut busted starter/starter solenoid, so i feel right about blowing 150 bucks on one from autozone?

P0401

iTrader: (1)

mine has been doing it intermittently not all the time, all I usually have to do is keep going from number 2 position to number 3 position and it will crank. I was thinking my key was going bad and not communicating with the computer to tell it that it was the correct key but have also heard the switches go bad in these things and there was recall on them so I am not sure if its the key or the switch but I know its not the starter. My radio and everything works as well and doesn't flicker when turning the key but I can keep turning it back and forth and usually around the 3rd or 4th time it will crank right up

on1wheel01

Mine was sticking a few months back mostly when it was colder out. But stopped after I tapped it with a hammer. I kept the starter out of the parts car I had(no longer have though), just in case mine does go out. As man I can't see spending that much on a starter.

BustedS13

the more i think about it, neither can i. CL just got home on a tow truck, think i'm going to get up early and hit the junkyard, grab a couple starters for $20 a pop, and see what sticks.
what other Honda models use the same starter?

MaxMike93

1998-2002 Accord V6 is the same engine as the 3.0CL. I don't know if/what others use the same

fliplyricist1

odd. I was having this issue with my 3.0 a few months back intermittently. Only seemed to happen during extremely hot days. It would be weird because I'd be at a gas station, after running the car fine for hours (I have constant battery voltage monitoring on my pioneer headunit). Then I'd stop to get gas and try to turn it and the engine won't go. It'll just click forever. I keep going from position II to III until about a minute later the engine would finally turn over and be fine...for another month or so until randomly it won't turn over during another hot day in the future.

I thought it was my starter, but recently I just went over all my grounds and hit them up with a brushwire for good measure and it's been about 2 months since the last episode and nothing's happened. Still odd though, definitely seems weather related, as it never happened in cooler climates.