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Eric,
Have watched videos on this subject. Thought I had an ignition problem until I realized that the rotor and pulleys were not turning so I figured I had a starter problem. Replaced the starter and same problem. When I attempt to start the car it has a definite unusual noise from starter. When I pull the spark plugs I do get the engine to turn, pulleys and rotor will spin. Sound is more normal from starter when it spins freely.
Have come to the diagnosis that I may have a worn flywheel. Is that possible?
Prior to the 1998 Honda Accord 4 cylinder just not starting the car was having “hard starts” for several weeks prior to it just not starting.I am a recently retired dentist and this is a utility car that was my daughters. So I am a molar mechanic not a car mechanic. But I have enjoyed this project of trying to fix the old Honda. It is frustrating to not have gotten it figured out.
Thank you for your time,
Tom
PS I am new to the world of forums- this is my first post on a forum.
I could post a short video if that would help.
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I was able to do some voltage readings. Also I cleaned the terminals and the battery posts with a wire brush.
Battery: 12.26Volts. According to Eric that is a tad low.
Voltage drop; Neg of battery to housing of starter was 72-80mV. Well below the .25V max suggested by Eric.
Voltage drop; Pos of battery to Pos terminal on starter was 88-99mV. Also well below the .7V maximum suggested.So this all looks good except for a slight low reading on battery itself.
I am going to try to post YouTube videos of what it looks like and sounds like.
Thanks for your help,
TomLets see if this works.
I have posted a video of the car attempting to start. The plugs are in.
This is an automatic trans and a timing belt replace at 100K.
Car has 191K miles now.This second video is of the car without any plugs present. It will catch the flywheel and turn the rotor and the pulleys. Notice the obvious difference in the sound between the two short videos.
Any thoughts?
Thanks for your help,
TomHave you had the opportunity to inspect the timing belt?
If not, that is where I would look next.
BTW posting the video was a good idea.
Good luck.
Those videos are very helpful.
If you take off the oil filler cap, can you see any of the valvetrain? If so, have a look with a torch to see iif it’s moving as someone cranks the engine. Otherwise, either pull the rocker cover and (briefly) crank or remove the upper timing cover. It does look and sound like your timing belt is broken.
By the looks of it I’d say the starter is trashed or the ring gear is broken. My money is on the starter. Honda starters do NOT get shims, so don’t even go there. I would remove the starter and inspect it.
Thanks for the video, it was very helpful. Good luck and keep us posted.
The ’98 Honda is alive! It turns out that the flywheel(ring gear) was turning against the torque converter. The six welds had all broken and the starter would engage the teeth on the flywheel but it was spinning the flywheel around the torque converter. This caused that metal on metal sound that you hear in the videos. Under compression (spark plugs in) there was not enough friction to spin the motor. With spark plugs removed it would have enough friction to eventually spin the motor.
So we placed six one inch welds where they were cracked and reinstalled the starter. First turn of the key it started!
Maybe we will get another 191K miles before it breaks again.My thanks to the members of the forum for their suggestions and to Eric for his expertise and his great videos.
I have learned a lot and it was fun getting my old Honda back.Thanks,
Tom
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