I have a 1998 Honda Accord and today it will not start or turn over. It Makes a clicking sound but has power.

[chaihu]

My Honda ran fine up until today. Recent tune-up and plenty of gas. It makes a strange clicking noise, which I have never heard, when I turn the key. The engine gives no sign of turning over just a steady clicking. I park it in the garage and use it regularly. It has never had a problem with the battery. Does anyone know what the clicking sound is? What are some possible problems? How could the problem occur in a dry garage between use? It has 110,000 miles and I changed the timing belt at 95,000 miles. Could it be a bad timing belt job or something else? Thanks..

[az_sun_flower]

sounds like maybe the starter or starter relay if it has one.

[shifty]

charger ur battery...the starter is kickin over but it doesnt have enouph power to turn over so just charger it or replace it and it will start up and maybe if it isnt staying charged in ur garage the alternater is bad or u have a bad connection

[iNsTaNtpUdDiNhEaD]

The battery's low, or one of the terminals is not making good enough contact, possibly die to corrosion.

[lucasl]

charge it if it was ur starter it wouldnt click

[helpfulbob]

Try taking the battery out and having it charged fully then try starting it again. I think you need probably a new battery but a good shop or even walmart can test that old battery but best place to bring it is where you bought it at.

 If that is the original battery no wonder it's gone bad bec they don't tend to last more then 5 yrs on avg and 10yrs at tops.

 I'd go buy a cheap battery charger and simply take the battery out and charge it fully , walmart sells a cheap but okay charger. By the way the higher the amps on the 12volt charger the better the charge.



 Hope that helps and best of luck......if your dash lights and head lights etc were very weak when you tried starting it I'd say for sure it's the battery.I'd add you should really have the cars electrical system over hauled or at least the starter , battery and alternators posts and contacts cleaned , plus the engines block ground too.

[ootsae]

Bad starter solenoid, and you need to check the individual battery cells.

The starter solenoid on a Honda is part of the starter.

Checking the battery cells can be done without starting the engine each cell should be 1.5 volts.

[MikeM]

It's probably just the battery or corrosion on the battery terminals



Normally, when you start a car, you turn the key, you hear a little whirr, whirr, whirr, and then the engine fires up and runs.

What happens when you turn the key? If it grinds and whines and sounds a little like a siren, or else doesn't do ANYTHING or just clicks a few times, THEN FINALLY STARTS OK, and over time needs more and more tries with the key, the starter is going out. Get it replaced before it strands you. If it does nothing but click, or nothing, and doesn't start after turning the key multiple times, it's usually a dead battery or just corrosion on the battery connections. A dead battery caused usually by the leaving the lights or radio on overnight. You can check them, the switches will still be on. If your battery has top posts, you can pull the cable connections and be sure they are shiny inside and out, scraping them with a key, a screwdriver, knife, or the correct tool, a $2.50 battery terminal brush from WalMart or the parts store, reconnect them, and get a jump start and try again. Also, a dead battery can be caused by a worn-out alternator failing to charge it, but this would have been signalled by the "Battery" or "Alternator", etc., warning light staying on on the dash all the time while the car was running, and surely you would have noticed that. If the electrical charging system warning light wasn't staying on all the time while the engine was running, and the TOP battery and cable connections (side posts don't corrode much) have been cleaned, and you jumped it off and it STILL was dead the next time, the problem is probably a bad battery. If the car goes whirr, whirr, whirr when you turn the key but just won't "catch" and keep running, it is usually because of being out of gas or needing a tuneup or, if the car is out in sub-freezing weather, having water in the gas line frozen and blocking it. If the weather is sub-freezing, you may have to tow it to a warm garage to thaw the water in the gas line, drain the line, change the gas filter and try again. Even in warm weather, it's possible to get water in the tank from a contaminated gas station, it happened to me once, about five hours of driving after I bought gas at a different station.



You can get brief, concise, step-by-step steps to diagnose any engine's failure to start in the front of any Haynes auto repair manual under "Troubleshooting", available at most auto parts stores for about $16, or online by searching on Yahoo under "auto repair manuals". The most important and basic first steps are pretty universal. If you can't find the manual for your model, any similar model will have the same information.



Best regards,

Mike