Starting trouble...

[StArTrAkCLoNe3D]

Over the past few days, i've been having some type of electrical problem with my '91 CRX. I went to leave one day last week, and my car would not start up, I mean completely dead, no noise when I turned the key whatsoever. So I got a jump, took it to my dad's house checked everything out and it was fine. The next day it did the same thing, so I got another jump, and took it a Kragen autoparts store, and had them test the battery and the alternator, and the guy said my alternator was good, but the battery was low. So I bought another battery, thinking this would remedy the problem, and the next day, it was dead upon "start-up" again. So I got another jump, took it to my dad's house, and changed the alternator. Next day, went to start, completely dead again. This is really annoying, and I was going to see if there else anything else I could check today, but wasn't sure where to start. And this didn't start happening until after I got my engine cleaned last weekend. Any ideas about what's going on?

[RedRex16]

the same thing happened to my friend. turned out his amp didnt shut off with the car.

[amitykamity]

im not an expert on this, but my car has been having start up problems. since your car aint cranking at all...check your ignitions module? you say you had your engine cleaned...you spark plugs might be a little wet [with oil or fuel] and just barely getting enough spark to get going?

[StArTrAkCLoNe3D]

Originally Posted by RedRex16

the same thing happened to my friend. turned out his amp didnt shut off with the car.

Kind of weird, because I do have an amp, this'll be one of the things i'll check first when I take a look later on today.

[StArTrAkCLoNe3D]

Originally Posted by amitykamity

im not an expert on this, but my car has been having start up problems. since your car aint cranking at all...check your ignitions module? you say you had your engine cleaned...you spark plugs might be a little wet [with oil or fuel] and just barely getting enough spark to get going?

Where can I find the ignitions module? Would this affect the rest of the electrical system? Because my dome light doesn't come on, neither do the headlights, nor anything else electrical for that matter!

[Killa_CRX]

Originally Posted by StArTrAkCLoNe3D

Kind of weird, because I do have an amp, this'll be one of the things i'll check first when I take a look later on today.

That'll do it.. you've probably got the amp remote wire hooked up to a 12volt hot wire, instead of 12volt switched.... that'll kill your battery in a few hours.
Check the wiring at your radio too, if you put that in yourself. Also make sure you don't have interior lights switched on by accident.

[StArTrAkCLoNe3D]

Originally Posted by Killa_CRX

That'll do it.. you've probably got the amp remote wire hooked up to a 12volt hot wire, instead of 12volt switched.... that'll kill your battery in a few hours.
Check the wiring at your radio too, if you put that in yourself. Also make sure you don't have interior lights switched on by accident.

Actually now that I think about it, I've had my system hook up for about 6 months, and this has never beem a problem before. For some reason I believe there is a short or something under the hood, from the engine cleaning. Thanks for the responses though, any more suggestions?

[amitykamity]

Originally Posted by StArTrAkCLoNe3D

Where can I find the ignitions module? Would this affect the rest of the electrical system? Because my dome light doesn't come on, neither do the headlights, nor anything else electrical for that matter!

If you take off your distributor cap and rotor, it will be on the bottom. I suggest you look into a Helms Manual, helps out alot.

However, now that you say nothing turns on...seems like it could be a connection problem...I know this sounds stupid, but I did it once before, make sure your battery is securely hooked up!

But again, look at the Helms Manual, it will help you troubleshoot the problem.

Kamity

[civic_boy91]

Originally Posted by StArTrAkCLoNe3D

Where can I find the ignitions module? Would this affect the rest of the electrical system? Because my dome light doesn't come on, neither do the headlights, nor anything else electrical for that matter!

sounds pretty bad ... do the brake lights work at least .... make sure your fuses are not burned out for head lights and dome light(and whatever else that is not working). as for the dead battery, i really dont know what to say. just check your amp and stuff that could be running/on when the car is off.

[civic_geek133]

check your grounds, it sounds like a grounding problem.

first check to see if your ground for your battery is good(negative side)
and just go from the battery back

my car did the same thing and it came to be the ground for the battery was bad

[KNIVES]

do you have a digital voltmeter at all i know a way that can eliminate a few possible problems. first u need to check your grounds like what was suggested u dont want to spend alot of time ripping stuff apart only to find the battery terminals are dirty. does n e thing come on at all that can also help to check which grounds would b the prob.

[91civichatch2571]

parasiticdrain test. Take off your negative cable from the battery. Put one end of a volt meter to the battery post, put the other to the end of the neg cable you just took off. Shouldnt be getting anything more than .030 Amps.

[KNIVES]

Originally Posted by 91civichatch2571

parasiticdrain test. Take off your negative cable from the battery. Put one end of a volt meter to the battery post, put the other to the end of the neg cable you just took off. Shouldnt be getting anything more than .030 Amps.

exactly!!! isn't .030 milliamps not amps. my buddy had a reading of .218 mA and i know that is too high.

[StArTrAkCLoNe3D]

Well, after exhausting pretty much all avenues as far as my electric system is concerned, and pouring over the responses that were given on this forum, i've come to the conclusion that there may be some sort of "parasitic drain" from the remote wire of my amp, as someone suggested. I've forgotten the voltmeter at home, but i've disconnected the amp from my battery, and won't know until the morning if/when my car starts. Thanks to all for their responses, this is one of the few forums where people actually try to help....