My '01 has been intermittently not starting. No cranking, just a dead click. It always starts again after 3 or 4 tries. Happened first time several weeks ago, then ran fine for a week or two; happened again 2 weeks ago; then last weekend; and yesterday twice.

Took it to a shop; they cleaned the cable connections, the battery was fine. Decided it was the starter. They gave me a price of $245 for a rebuilt starter. Another shop, specializing in Hondas/Acuras gave me $450 for new, installed and the dealer wanted $650. A friend told me about a retired mechanic he'd used (unfortunately, is quite a schlep, but) who gave me a price of $260 for new.

Q's:
a) does the assessment sound right?
b) how would i know if he's used a new or remanufactured part?

thanks.

 

Has it done it since the cable connections were cleaned?

Rebuilt starters are ok, don't worry about using them.

 

yes, they cleaned the cables, checked the battery, concluded it was the starter.

read elsewhere on site about ignition problems w/ CL -- could that have anything to do with it? Or could it be something as simple as a loose wire?

 

buy a starter from a parts house. i paid $140 for mine about 3 weeks ago. it took about 25 minutes to change it. it's right up front and easy to reach and get to.

 

So here I am 5 years later. Thought I had solved this problem, but it happened again this weekend.

Since I posted, we've replaced the battery, replaced the spark plugs, replaced the starter. Then, repairing something else, my mechanic said he found a ground wire that was broken. He said that was probably causing the problem, fixed it, hadn't had any problems since. That was last October.

Then this weekend I got in the car, turned the ignition and it cranked but didn't catch. Tried again. Nothing. Waited 20 minutes, after two tries, it started again.

Every time this has happened, I've left the car in the driveway or street. It's never happened when I had the car parked in the garage.

I'm wondering -- could it have something to do with the car being in the sun/heat?

Any guesses?

Thanks.

 

Funny, same thing happened to me today, twice. And it was close to 100 degress here and my car sat all day in the direct sun. This hasn't happened since last year until about a week ago. I tapped the starter and it started. Same thing today, had to tap it to have her start. I was using the a/c at the time when I shut the car off. I'm thinking it's something with the a/c drawing too much power away. But could it be the heat? Anyone with thoughts on this sun/heat theory???

 

If it's cranking over fine but not catching it is probably your main fuel relay. The soldering on them has issues with heat+age. I had this problem last summer, where when I was parked outside on a hot day sometimes it wouldn't start but would crank over totally fine. After some searching on here found it might be the main fuel relay, replaced that and haven't had a problem since.

 

^ or it is the fuel pressure regulator.....

 

Interesting, thanks. I'll ask my guy about that. It can't be coincidence that this only happens when it's left out in the sun. Thank goodness so far it's only happened at home. I'd hate for this to happen in a parking lot.

 

i was gonna say it could be the starter solenoid..

i had mine go on me on the ford probe and it would just not even crank sometimes.

 

I also had the same problem last year in 100 degree heat. Aired out the car, and 10 minutes later it started no problem. Sure enough- happened again this past week. I just installed a new relay to hopefully stop this issue for good!

 

The main fuel relay was problem as well. Bought a new one at napa auto about 3 months ago for $55 and problem is gone. thank god for this forum. There's diy for the fuel relay on here somewhere