I'm trying to keep alive a 90 Accord til Sept.Recently, when putting the car in neutral there was an awful sound (fast, muffled click) coming from under the hood. The noise quit when put in gear. And when we tried to turn off the car, the key in the ignitionjust kept going round and round. We opened the hood in an attempt to pin-point the original of the noise (prior to pulling the battery cables so it would stop) and smoke started coming from the starter /starter area. Obviously, now the car doesn't start at all. Any ideas on what might have happened? Thanks in advance. Happy New Year ; )

 

Starter for one...possibly flywheel/flexplate damage. You've got quite a mess on your hands.

 

I reckon the most likely explanation is that your ignitionswitch (not key / lock, but the actual electrical switch that lives behind the lock) got stuck in the 'start' position (and you couldn't turn it off because the lock has lost engagement with the switch, a small tab connecting the lock and switch has probably snapped), and as a result the starter motor was stuck in the 'engaged' position and then over driven by the engine, causing damage to the starter motor.

If I'm correct the sequence of events will be something like:

Engine running, during which time the lock loses engagement with ignition switch and for some reason the switch then moves to 'start', but, the starter motor doesn't do anythingyet because it can't if the transmission selector is not in either 'N' or 'P' (so you can't accidentally start the car in gear, safety thing). You then move the selector from 'D' or 'R' into'N' and the starter motor springs into dynamic action, engaging with the already spinning ring gear (the "fast, muffled click" you heard). The helplessly engaged starter motor itself is then overdriven beyond it's design rpm and craps itself, or, the starter solenoid starts to burn out because it's not designed to be 'on' for any long period. Make sense to you?

 

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