Car Won't Start

General engine questions/issues that aren't specific to the other categories
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Car Won't Start

By bk_civiceg
- Mon Sep 13, 2010 1:54 am #213306 Okay, so heres the story. I was in a parking lot today and came back to start my car. I pushed in the clutch as normal and turned the key. The starter sounded like it spun abnormally really fast for about 2 seconds, then quit. The car would not start. I checked my leads on the battery and they are good. I've checked the grounds to the motor and they all seem to be good. I replaced the starter, but that didnt fix it. The battery and alternator tested good at the local Autozone but I'm still not sure what the problem is. As a side note: My car has been idle surging pretty badly for the last couple weeks and now my speedometer doesn't work. What do you think is the problem?

Thanks,

Ben
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By teal_dx
- Mon Sep 13, 2010 3:07 am #213322 if a starter spins really fast, like there's no resistance, it can mean that there's little or no compression in the motor.

This happened to a friend's civic a while ago though and it ended up being something completely simple to fix... so simple that I can't even remember what it was. I pulled in the drive way and 1 min later we got it running. I just emailed him to see what it was.

So other than rpm surging, your car is in healthy shape?

And last but not least, did you try hitting the starter with a hammer? Not too hard, but if there's a dead spot in the starter it will help the starter turn past the dead spot. I carried a hammer around in my car for a while once when my starter was going and money was tight :lol:
Usually this kind of failure is just a single click sound from the starter but it's worth a shot.
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By bk_civiceg
- Mon Sep 13, 2010 4:26 am #213344 I put in some seafoam to try to help with the surging. it has helped a little bit. The motor is a z6 with 80,000 I keep up on all the maintenance but can't figure out the idle surging. Sometimes it stops once the car is at normal operating temp, other times it doesn't. Would a battery with a short in it cause the idle surging and loss of speedometer??
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By teal_dx
- Mon Sep 13, 2010 2:05 pm #213402 loss of speedo is usually a problem with the VSS sensor or wiring.

Surging idle can be alot of things. Air in coolant system is common, so is a clogged/dirty IACV. A vacuum leak will cause it, but it would be constant, not intermittent.

Start by bleeding air from your coolant system. :thumb:

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By civiccoupe
- Sun Sep 19, 2010 9:45 pm #214495 buy a bottle of throttle body and air intake cleaner. tathe tke your air intake off and spray it in your throttle body open the throttle body up and spray it wipe the carbon off and let your car set for about half hour for it to dry and then start your car it might start up rough at frist and smoke a little but thats just the cleaner going though the motor it will stop in a couple mins
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By bk_civiceg
- Wed Sep 29, 2010 12:01 am #215800 So I thought that I had the problem fixed, but I'm stuck in a parking lot again and my car won't start. A couple weeks ago, I had the same problem where I couldn't start my car and it acted as if the clutch safety switch was preventing it from starting. I pulled the electrical connector on top of the transmission, toward the back of the motor off, and it was completely corroded. I cleaned the corrosion, and that fixed my problem for two weeks. Now the same problem has occurred, but I can't fix it anymore. Does anyone know what the electrical connector on top of the manual transmission is called? I think it sends signal to the clutch safety switch and the speedo. Is it the Vehicle Speed Sensor?? Thanks
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