Starter issues...

I have a 1990 crx dx with a dohc zc, about to replace the starter for the fourth time in this car... it has a 150 amp alternator to run 5 tv's and big amps etc... could this be too much power for my starter? Also have two optima red tops recently added to make sure my alarm and led's etc werent killing my stock battery... has anyone else had this problem? Also nobody in town will work on my car due to all my ICE in the car... xm radio cd changer 6.5 touchscreen Pioneer DVD player... Monster video distribution unit... 2 6.5 inch visor screens... 2 6.5 inch headrest monitors.... 2 kicker solobaric L7's... kicker 700 x 5 amp.... all boston 6.5 coaxials.... 4 1 inch tweets... I could take my car to naples auto electric BUT... been there done that before and sure they will fix my problem... AFTER disconnecting my alarm and ALL of my electronics and charging me a CHITLOAD of money... Im a newb so be gentle lol

Hey man welcome, your not too far away from me..maybe 30 min. drive! Actually I lived in Naples a long time ago...That more wiring than I care to deal with but I hope someone can help you out..

Hey thanks for the reply! We should get together someday... I have always wanted to drive a B16 equppied rex also... might fall in love and sell everything I own to do ANOTHER swap lol.. have also been considering starting a CRX owners club in swfl.... I see a ton of em around here... so you havent had any starter issues with your CRX? Ever since I bought the car its always had a problem starting, good thing its a light car to push! haha... if you might be able to help been looking for the OEM part number for the starter for the jdm dohc zc.... used the old starter from the stock dx engine... maybe its not the right one... anyways thanks again for the reply!

Hey thanks for the reply! We should get together someday... I have always wanted to drive a B16 equppied rex also... might fall in love and sell everything I own to do ANOTHER swap lol.. have also been considering starting a CRX owners club in swfl.... I see a ton of em around here... so you havent had any starter issues with your CRX? Ever since I bought the car its always had a problem starting, good thing its a light car to push! haha... if you might be able to help been looking for the OEM part number for the starter for the jdm dohc zc.... used the old starter from the stock dx engine... maybe its not the right one... anyways thanks again for the reply!

yah, they're the same.
You MAY be sending too much voltage to the starter. Does the car turn over or does the starter just "click"?

Thanks for the reply! The starter just clicks.... if I keep at it it starts sometimes... but only after it sits for a while... if I turn it off and try to start it again just clicks and have to push start it... I want to replace the starter but considering this will be the 4th one in this car I would like to determine what the issue is so I don't have to spend 250 bucks every 6 months. Already replaced the main relay also if that helps any... thanks again for your help!

Hey what are the odds someone could walk me through swapping out a starter? I know its just taking off some bolts and unplugging it etc, but I noticed those bolts are EXTREMELY hard to get to. Have decided that since I cant solve the source of the problem would like to know how to swap it out myself and for the time being buy used starters off ebay for 15-25 bucks a pop and NOT HAVE TO PUSH START my baby lol. With 200 lbs of subwoofer and sub box, and 2 additional optima batteries in the back my rex isnt as light as she used to be lmao.

Well it is much easier once you remove the air intake..I think that with my b16 it is 10x easier to work on..Ive seen how crowded a stock engine bay is, and its rediculous....I think if anything, there is MORE space to work..but maybe youll see soon. Anyway, they really arent hard to get to once you remove the air intake..just a little knuckle scraping.

ice?

yeah, though i can't say exactly, because i have no formal training in electronics, i'd say that the alternator has less to do with it than the battery. think about it. a car's starter gets its power from... the battery. the car isn't running yet, so the alternator is not putting out power. once the alternator takes over, the starter is no longer working, and shouldn't be part of the picture.

though i'm not entirely sure what you're saying, it sounds like you've got 2 strong heavy duty batteries in your car. i'm thinking that's the overkill right there. back down to one battery and get a HUGE capacitor for all your gear is my suggestion.

my car. i've got an 89 CRX and i'm still running on the stock starter. that's why they make you trade your old one in when you buy a new one, and i think they offer great warranties on even rebuilt starters. they're fairly simple yet very rugged and aren't really supposed to break but once in the lifetime of the car.

I have a 1990 crx dx with a dohc zc, about to replace the starter for the fourth time in this car... it has a 150 amp alternator to run 5 tv's and big amps etc... could this be too much power for my starter? Also have two optima red tops recently added to make sure my alarm and led's etc werent killing my stock battery... has anyone else had this problem? Also nobody in town will work on my car due to all my ICE in the car... xm radio cd changer 6.5 touchscreen Pioneer DVD player... Monster video distribution unit... 2 6.5 inch visor screens... 2 6.5 inch headrest monitors.... 2 kicker solobaric L7's... kicker 700 x 5 amp.... all boston 6.5 coaxials.... 4 1 inch tweets... I could take my car to naples auto electric BUT... been there done that before and sure they will fix my problem... AFTER disconnecting my alarm and ALL of my electronics and charging me a CHITLOAD of money... Im a newb so be gentle lol
I would try checking the ground from the frame to the valve cover... I know it sound dumb but I had the same kinda problem and after replacing that ground wire I had no more problems. You could also take your starter in and have it bench tested to be sure that is the problem.

Thanks for the reply! Going to keep the 2 optima batteries though, planning on going with the big dawg kicker 2500 watt mono amp and 2 other amps also, gotta have lotsa juice to run all of that stuff.... the point of the alternator putting out too much power would be when it is running and driving, could be supplying to much power to the whole electrical system in general thus causing the problem with the starter. I will also be getting a 15 farad capacitor as well :iceslolan

Thanks for the reply! Going to keep the 2 optima batteries though, planning on going with the big dawg kicker 2500 watt mono amp and 2 other amps also, gotta have lotsa juice to run all of that stuff.... the point of the alternator putting out too much power would be when it is running and driving, could be supplying to much power to the whole electrical system in general thus causing the problem with the starter. I will also be getting a 15 farad capacitor as well :iceslolan

Do you even understand how the charging system works? The alternator doesn't have anything to do with starting your car or supplying power to the car. It charges the batteries while the car is running. The batteries then supply power for things like all the lights, the radio, and starting the car. Your car doesn't directly recieve power from the alternator. It is always recieving power from the battery. You don't NEED two batteries. There are plently of people running larger systems on one battery. Just get the capacitors. I sure hope your not sending 24-28 volts to that starter w/ the two batteries. Because if you are, that is for sure your problem. That starter only needs a 12V signal to turn over.

Yeah I was thinking that maybe they are being run in series (24v) and toasting that thing...

Yeah I was thinking that maybe they are being run in series (24v) and toasting that thing...

My thoughts as well...

Wow suprised at the negativity... I doubt the batteries are wired in a configuration that would toast anything... was professionally installed by stereo garage here in naples... but to get your opinion Ill explain how they are wired... also had the starter issues WAY before I got the extra batteries put in which was about a month ago... lol and I think you guys are gonna shit because there are actually 3 batteries total, my stock interstate battery under the hood and the two optimna batteries in the back... my stock battery has a 4 gauge power wire running to the back of the car whuch used to go straight into my amp... what stereo garage did is take that 4 gauge wire and hooked it into the first battery... the red terminal is then jumpered to the 2nd battery... which from that terminal goes into a 4 gauge fuse... then into my amp... I had told them to toss the interstate battery and have my whole car run off of the two batteries in the back... but I guess someone missed the memo... inital thought was to have one battery for the car in essence and one for the system... figured I would need two considering the alarm drains power when the car is off... and alot of devices that draw current while the car is off IE xm radio cd changer all 4 monitors to keep settings etc, and also two varad scanners one on each pillar to thwart would be vandals etc. Figured having 2 batteries in the back would always supply enough power to the starter for it to turn over, thought part of the problem was all the accessories drained the battery enough to the point of the starter did not have enough power coming from the battery to turn it over, and to this day even with the 3 BATTERIES, if I jump the car when it wont start... starts right up. Im going to change the ground wire from the valve cover to the body like someone else posted... see if that makes any differance. And to top it off one of the starter issues could have something to do with my alarm, my ex girlfriend installed it after going to MECP school. But then again before I even had the alarm installed which was 3 or so years ago this car has always had issues starting.

Just a thought, and actually this seems very plausible to me.. Your front battery is most likely smaller in capacity than the two in the back, I can almost be sure of that...and basic knowledge would say that if the two larger batteries run low and are directly connected to the main battery.. they will get a charge (pull the current) from the smaller, better charged battery. And then when you go to start the car, the battery that is directly connected to the starter doesnt have the juice to do the job, and if youve ever tried to run something at the same time your charging it, it doesnt work well because the current cant flow from the rear batteries through the front and to the starter. Also, if that doesnt sound right, the rear batteries could be more powerful than the front and simply OVERCHARGING it, trying to even out the juice between all 3...have you ever considered getting 3 identical batteries?

Ya got a good case with the smaller battery in the front, Im pretty sure an optima wont fit under the hood next to my cold air intake and the interstate battery is much smaller, thanks for not being a dick by the way just want to get my car up and running. So right now since I have a smaller battery up front, and bigger ones in the back, when I go to start my car, it isnt pulling any power from the rear ones at all? If thats the case then going to be royally pissed off cuz I yold stereo garage I was having starting issues and was the point to adding the two batteries. Would make sense though because if my car hasnt been running for a good 4 or 5 hours, after a couple key turns itll start, but if I try to start it righ after its been running for a while it wont start... I hear the fan running when I try to turn it over right after I turn it off so figure maybe the fan running was sucking enough juice from the battery to make it so it didnt have enough charge to get the starter to turn over

Yeah, the back batteries are just too far away too give the kind of juice that a starter requires...and running through a smaller battery is a very indirect way to get it there.

Ahhhh ok thanks so much, I would think my assumption that a red top will not fit under my hood next to the cold air intake is correct eh? That would be option one scrappin the interstate and putting one of the optimas under my hood and having the other one in the back... option 2 would be still scrapping the interstate and installing a power distribution block on the side of my engine bay and terminating the ground and power to that, and having the setup that I wanted of the car starting from the two batteries in the back... would I still have the issue of the batteries being too far away to engage the starter?

With 4 gauge, I would sure hope not..and i think a red top just might fit under the hood, They arent nearly as large as the yellow tops..but everyones CAI is different.

And you're using a stock alternator to charge 3 batteries? you may need a higher output alternator to charge all of your batteries. That tiny output alternator isn't meant to charge 3 separate batteries...that's why you have starting problems directly after driving for a few hours...makes sense to me. Sorry if I come off as a dick...don't take it personal homie.

Its cool man, if ya check out my signature got the 150 amp alternator noted on there, have had that for about a year and a half and been through two starters since then. I think with a little help from frodo I have figured out the problem. The little interstate battery is where the starter is looking for power.. and it just doesnt have it. If the stereo place would have done what I told them to the stock battery would have been taken out of there and the car would start off of the two optimas. Thats why I bought them to make sure had enough juice to start the car after all the accessories memory and alarm and LED's etc. Here is a question for the well informed... if I cut off the battery terminal connection, on the end of the positive wire going to the stock battery, and connected it to the 4 gauge power wire running to my car, and toss the stock ground from the engine going to the battery terminal under the hood (the two batteries are grounded in the rear of the car)... it should start right up then correct? (Right now if car doesnt start up after a few keyturns jump starting the car causes it to fire up right away)

Yeah that should do it.. just connect the positive to the optimas...thall run them straight to the alternator, shouldnt really need to do anything with the ground though, its already connected to everything...

Well FINALLY figured out what the problem was, sure as shit the ground wire from the engine to the battery was not only 16 years old but it connects in a splice that appears factory at a little bolt that screws into the front part of the car, once I took the ground completely off and inspected it, replaced it with a 4 gauge brand new wire. Also tossed the interstate battery and with some delicate surgery put in one of my optimas that I had in the back, the starter still needs to be replaced, but it does turnover after a couple of tries. Anybody know how in the hell to get the second bolt off of the starter, that is UNDER the starter? Me and about 3 friends tried like a mofo with socket extensions etc, and for the life of us could not get that bad boy off, so now have to spend 75 bucks labor for one damn bolt :banghead: Also one thing Im curious is, I have seen a voltage regulator installed in some cars with multiple batteries... do I need this? I can tell one thing, even with the optima installed under my hood, it still isnt using the 2nd battery in the back to assist in starting. Thanks for all your help peeps! Oh and frodo if ya get back to me before I bring my car into the shop... would gladly pay you the money instead of my auto repaair shop ;) did the IACV myself was a breeze, just need to adjust my clutch cable, and install the windshield wiper motor and the rex will be healthy once again yayyyy!

Yeah the wiper motor is a snap...literally, all of theinterior pieces on thes cars pretty much snap in and out in a few minutes. Clutch cable is easy as well, and Id be glad to help get that starter offa there. I love working on my rex because it is so easy and Ive pretty much got it down to a science when it comes to tearing stuff out of it.