95 accord lx has no power...my 18 year old was sitting in it with the radio on while I ran into store. I came out and turned key on and it clicked one time and then nothing. My son started to put windows up and then I tried starting again and everything went dead. No lights on dash, no dome light, no headlights, no horn...dead. Tried to jump it...nothing. I cleaned battery terminals and got nothing so I took battery to be tested and it tested good. Bought new battery anyway and went back and put old battery in and turned on dome light and it came on. Turned it off and tried to turnover key and nothing once again and dome light dead. I even tried new battery and got nothing. Looked at fuses and couldn't see any blown. It is puzzling me! Any ideas?

 

Hello, Rainman... welcome to the forum

Wow... your car's dilemma is puzzling indeed. Everything I can think of you've likely already checked.. for instance: hot & ground cables, starter wiring, fuses, etc

Considering that you are not even getting a dome light... the issue is surely not in the ignition switch... and you've already tried a new battery...

In 1974 I had a VW bus that gave me a fit while refusing to start... I thought that I had checked everything... come to find out it had a wire-mesh cable that ran under the rear axle and one end of it had come off from its mounting

Wishing you the best of luck in your endeavor. Please keep us posted, I'm curious as to what the problem turns out to be

 

On the starter there is a single wire unplugs (not the one with the nut). Disconnect that wire. Put the car in park is auto or neutral with emergency brake set. Turn the key to the on or run position. Take a jumper wire and attach it to the pos terminal on the battery then take the other end and touch it to the terminal on the started where the wire was unclipped. Note if the battery is good the engine should crank. Note assuming it does crank you need to hold the wire on long enough for the car to start. See if the car runs fine by doing this. I have two ideas in mind that may be your problem and this will help to diagnosis it. Plus it only takes a couple of minutes to do, and for your self it is a useful tool for getting the car running if there are other electrical issues because it bypasses several portions of the system.

Good luck and again, welcome to the HAF site!

 

Thanks for the replies.

I went back this morning and reconnected the old battery after leaving it disconnected all night. The dome light came on and as soon as I turned the key on it went dead.

I tried to jump the starter but not sure if I was doing it correctly. I removed the clip plug from it and placed the jumper clamp against the starter clip and the postive post from the battery. I got nothing when turning the key to on. Not sure I had a good connection either because clip is so small.

Still at a loss!

 

You need to have the key on the on position first, connect a smaller wire to the end that will touch the prong end on the starter where the wire was disconnected. Re-read my post before and follow it to a T. It should crank. You are not trying to crank it by turning the jet, rather with the key in the on/running position when you touch the hot wire to the prong it should crank, thus follow the safety guidelines in the previous post.

Post back with your findings. I am leaning towards a bad ground issue, but try and get it started first. If the old battery does not work use a known good battery following the same steps.

 

Issue resolved!

Thanks Turtlehead.

I didn't even have to jump the starter. My buddy came by and after we looked at it more you were spot on...it was a ground issue. The ground wire to the bottom of the engine had frayed so we replaced it and we're back on the road.

 

Great to hear! Thanks for posting back and letting us know. Too often we never hear if or how the issue was resolved.

Thanks again!