53 Plate Honda Civic 1.7 cdti (manual) - Honda Civic Woe's; Starting & How to tow ?

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Sat 10 Sep 2011 12:57
53 Plate Honda Civic 1.7 cdti (manual) - Honda Civic Woe's; Starting & How to tow ? - Bigdaveg

Well here's a first; asking for advice on my wife's Honda Civic, in 3 years of reliable carefree motoringit don't wanna start :-(

Yesterday she said that she could hear a noise (from under the bonnet), when she started it, it started and ran fine for the rest of the day, with no repeat of the noise.

Today I went out to "listen" as she started the car, andfor the first time I can ever re-call the car did not start and still refuses to start; upon turning the key there is a very feint hearted attempt at a click, I have checked fuses, the battery seems ok as the heater, lights and wipers work ok. I'm no mechanic but given the noise she heard, the lack of a clear click and the apparent abundance of power, would I be right in thinking that it might be either the starter motor or solenoid ?.

This leads me onto my next question; my ford fusion has 2 very clear towing points, one under the rear bumper and a hidden recess in the front bumper, which is under a small removable cover. The civic has the usual rear towing eye/hoop but I cannot see any towing point at the front, does anyone know where the towing point is please ?.

I aim to tow the car 5 miles to a mechanic, have a tow rope but can't figure out how to attach it to the civic. The Manual isn't a lot of use, merely stating that it should be towed by a professional.

Any help or infor would be greatly appreciated.

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Sat 10 Sep 2011 15:34
53 Plate Honda Civic 1.7 cdti (manual) - Honda Civic Woe's; Starting & How to tow ? - bathtub tom

Make sure you use towing points and not lashing points. The latter are for holding down the car on ferries and suchlike.

Have you tried bump-starting it, or using jump leads? Both are far better options than a tow.

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Sat 10 Sep 2011 15:48
53 Plate Honda Civic 1.7 cdti (manual) - Honda Civic Woe's; Starting & How to tow ? - Chris M

Not familiar with a 53 Civic, but does it have a screw in eye stored in the boot somewhere? If so, I imagine there is going to be a removeable piece of trim somewhere on the front of the car. On my CMax, you remove the right hand side fog light trim to reveal the hole - not at all obvious without looking in the manual.

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Sat 10 Sep 2011 19:56
53 Plate Honda Civic 1.7 cdti (manual) Starting & How to tow it ? - Bigdaveg

My intial diagnosis was wrong, I connected the dead civic to my Fusion (via jump leads), and within a minute or so the civic started first time.

I left the car running for about 5 minutes, and as I have done with previous cars I decided to take the car out (to charge the battery), fortunately I had the intelligence to go just around the corner, a few hundred yards later the battery light came on, a few seconds later the abs, srs, etc.etc lit up, power steering went in and out, and I managed to get the car back (went about 1/2 mile in total).

So either the battery is totally knackered or I've got a dodgy alternator, a spare battery will be charged tonight and hopefully the problem will be diagnosed tomorrow, again I'm no mechanic but how does my diagnosis compute; it's either the battery or alternator ?. could it be anything else ?.

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Sat 10 Sep 2011 22:56
53 Plate Honda Civic 1.7 cdti (manual) Starting & How to tow it ? - likerocks

my wife has the previous generation civic, but we had something similar. Heater, lights radio etc all worked when you turned they key, but no starter motor or ignition.

In the end it was the battery connector which was about 95% corroded through. It carried enough current for the ancillaries but not enough for a start. Cheap as chips to fix.

It would explain why your jump start worked.

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Thu 15 Sep 2011 21:25
53 Plate Honda Civic 1.7 cdti (manual) Starting & How to tow it ? ; NOW FIXED - Bigdaveg

Just an update really, which might help someone at a later date;

After all my checks, it essentially boiled down to being either the battery & / or the alternator, the alternator was replaced and hey presto; all is fine in the world.

When the boss (wife ;-) said she'd heard a noise the day before it died, I had an inkling that it wasn't the battery.

Thanks to those that replied.

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