Saturday, December 13, 2008

Civic Starter

About a month ago the Civic would 'click' when I tried to start it. I would try restarting it a few times with eventual success, but the problem seemed to worsen as time went on. This morning I was about to drive it to Houston and sell it to my uncle but, alas, it wouldn't start at all. Just 'click, click, click'. I cleaned the battery terminals/posts and used a multimeter to test the voltage on the positive wire going to the starter, and all appeared fine. So I replaced the starter ($80 at O'Reilly's) and the car started immediately. Unfortunately, now when I turn the key and start the car, there comes a scraping/screeching sound from the starter, as if I'm holding the key in the engine ignition position too long. If I let go of the key really fast the sound doesn't last as long, but I can't start the car without making the sound for at least half a second. What's up with this?

Also, the CD player was working one night when I parked the car, then the next morning had no power. I am still trying to figure this one out. Perhaps a ground wire has become detached somewhere?

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