Newbie starting issue

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hunterhound

New Member
89 Civic 5 spd manual
Turn the key, all guages, radio, etc. power on.Try to start, nothing seems to engage the starter. I hear a relay clicking under the driver's side dash. I thought it may be the clutch switch. I can press the switch manually with my finger and turn the key, that relay will click. If I remove my finger and turn the key, the relay does not click. In my mind that tells me that the clutch switch is functioning because this relay seems to get power when depressed, correct? My problem is I don't know what this relay is. It is just hanging down by some wires and plug. It seems too low to be the main relay, as I have heard the main relay is really far up and hard to reach, this thing is just dangling. Any suggestions or things to look at would be appreciated. FYI, the starter and coil are new within the last year, as well as the ignition switch. Where would the ignition relay be located at?
 
if you hear your fuel pump turn on and the main relay click then that should be fine, maybe your battery is just to weak
 
try to push start it, if jump starting didnt work it could be you alternator.
 
look real close at the starter. I had a similar prob a while back, with the exact same symptoms. My brother told me to look at the starter and see if one wire that was on the bottom side of it was knocked off, and sure enough it was. Put it back on, and vwala, started no problem.
 
Disconnect the negative terminal on the battery, hook the negative jump cable to the disconnected wire and hook the positive jumper cable to the positive terminal on the battery, this will rule out or confirm the battery altogether by taking the battery out of the loop.
 
i have a 1989 crx si turns over gets spark but wont start was runnin for about 20 min then i got in and tried to drive off got about 50 ft and bouged down and died no just sit there and turns over wont start any ideas
 
problems

i have a 89 crx si that was runnin fine in the parkinglot at work i went in to get my shirt came out got in drove bout 50 ft the car bouged down and died i went to restart it started blew some smoke out and soon as i stopped tapping the gas it died now just turns over wont start at all any ideas
 
Did you check your grounds?

Start your own thread ghostly crx. Go to "civic and crx EF" at the top of the thread list on the left click new thread.
 
:werd:
Check your grounds, should have one running from the tranny to the frame rail on the passenger side, that should be grounding out the starter. If you're not sure, just ground out the starter with a bigger gauge wire and see if it kicks on. Hell your starter might even have taken a shit. Autozone will test them for you.
 
clean up where your grounds bolt up to. if they're rusty it wont start.

do you know where your grounds are? valve cover ground, tranny ground, and your thermostat ng ground.
 
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