My honda accord 95, 4 cylinder A/T will not start. My battery is fine. When i try to start, dash warning lights goes on. The engine light and D4 light goes off immediately. It is on Park position. So, the P light and other warning light stays on. I am surprized that why did my D4 light came on when it is on Park position. Evertime I try to crank it to start, it make a light click sound in the front under the hood. It makes a whishing sound, too as long as it is on teh key is at start position. when i release the key, it again make the click sound and stops there. I am suspecting that I have starter motor or starter solenoid problem. Does anybody know what it might be the problem exactly?

If I was to test and replace my starter motor or solenoid, I have to remove the lower radiator hose to get access to the starter. Do i have to drain teh coolant just to remove (disconnect) upper end of the lower radiator hose? please let me know.

Thanks,

dash

 

The D4 light can indicate that a transmission code was stored on the transmission computer. You can short the blue 2-pin connector under the glove box to get the codes.

Sounds like you have a starter solenoid problem. Have someone hold the key in the start position. Hit the starter in the area of where the electrical connections bolt to the starter with light/medium force with the handle of a screwdriver. If the starter suddenly works and the car starts, then you pretty much verified the solenoid. This is known as the cave-man test.

You don't have to drain the radiator to remove the starter.

To remove the starter, disconnect the battery, disconnect the two leads to the starter. Remove two bolts to the starter. You will have to move the radiator hoses from the u-shaped clamps to make room to get the starter out of the engine bay.

 

I would also suggest turning the headlights on and having someone try to start it. If the lights go out you are not getting enough power to the starter, such as bad cable or battery problem

 

Yes, i read somewhere about that caveman technique. I will try with a long stick and a small hammer because starter is located inside below radiator hose. It is hard to reach with the back of the screw driver.

I have tried with headlight on and tried to start it. The headlight does not dim or go off. But my dash warning light slightly dims.

Thanks, and have a good weekend! Will get back later.

Dash

 

Thank you, PAhonda, your caveman test suggestion worked. It started right away. This morning I started again, and i had no problem, except it made slight different starting sound, little bit of "khe! khe! sound, then started right away. Yes, it is starter solenoid problem. I will remove the starter and test it at autozone. However I will change the new starter motor as well as solenoid because that starter motor is old as solenoid. It may give me problem later if i just change only starter solenoid. Anyway at Autozone store you cannot buy solenoid separately. they come together and costs about $110 if i return my old parts. What brand reasonable price do you suggest that i should buy for the starter?

Thank you

Dash

 

I replaced just my solenoid over 3 years ago and have had no problems since.

I think it cost me ~$25 to repair. I know that there are differences between the between the MT and AT starters, so I am not sure what would be involved in your AT accord.

It looks like advance auto parts sells the solenoid.

The quality of the aftermarket starters can vary, because they all are probably re-manufactured by a handful of companies.

If you have an automotive electrical repair shop, I would consider getting a quote from them.

 

Boy! it was hard to remove the starter especially the tight mounting bolts. This honda accord 95, 4 cylinder, A/T. there was very little room to work for tools to fit. I removed the wrong bolts of starter motor, but it made me easy to take it piece by piece. first i took out motor and then solenoid. Just removing wire harness from teh engine was not enough to make more room for work. I should have removed air filter unit all the connecting to intake manifold. This would have give me more room. Well, now I got new whole starter unit form autozone, and i will have to remove teh air filter unit. Hopefully, I will have no problem installing a new one. Did anyone did a different way? by the way, do i need to oil or lubricate the new starter? it look slightly different than my original, but autozone said it will fit anyway.

 

No Oil or lubricant for that new starter is needed...

 

Installation of the starter was more difficult than removing. First of all, I had hard time sliding that huge starter unit down inside that slot hole due to less clearance space. I had to get my neighbor to help me out pushing in. Finally, it went in by rotating in angle. Great, I did not had to disconnect air filter unit hose connecting to intake manifold. But trying to screw back one of the mounting bolts at the back was much harder because tool rachet head in 90 degree angle at the starter would obstruck screwing the bolt. Had to get special rachet tool that would bent in slight angle to fix this problem. Next, trying to put connectors to solenoid was also difficult due to little clearance space. Later on I realized that I should have removed the battery to make this part easy.

Has anyone tried installing starter different easier way?

Thank you for everybody in trying to help me.

Donda