So I get in my Del Sol on my lunch break to go to McDonalds for some food. First time I turn the engine it sounds like it got locked up or something and stopped. I turned it again and it started right up. About 30 minutes later I get in my car to leave and it doesn't start. The engine doesn't even attempt to turn. The relay under the dash clicks and there is full power everywhere else. Ignition fuse is still good. Only thing left is the starter motor and solenoid. This is a B18C1 engine and I read in a Haynes manual that if the solenoid goes on an Integra, you have to replace the whole starter/solenoid assembly. Autozone wanted $155 for a starter ($70 rebate for returning old starter) and $250 for a solenoid switch. Is it really going to cost that much to fix my car? I haven't checked if the solenoid is getting proper voltage yet, but I would guess that it is. I will hopefully be able to check this later tonight when I can push start my car and drive it home. I just bought this car and have had it for about a week.

Also, I know this sounds stupid, but where exactly is the starter on this engine? All I could find was the alternator and a/c compressor. Is it somewhere down towards the bottom? Without a jack it's hard to see much under my car as it's been lowered a little.

Thanks for any advice anyone can offer. I would really appreciate the help.

 

I'm not sure of the exact placement of the starter on your motor, but I'm going to guess at it being the contacts on your starter being worn out. This can be a cause of occaisional starting while still having a perfectly fuctioning battery. Does it click when you turn the key?

 

Yes, the relay under the dash clicks. I'm hoping it may start back up if I let it rest for a few hours and cool off at night. Temps down here are 100 degrees. My father-in-law was fixing up an old Honda that had some problem where it just wouldn't start sometimes. I'm doubtful that is my problem though. Is there any way to replace the brushes on the starter without replacing the whole thing? Thanks for the advice. Anyone else got a suggestion?

 

You can replace the brushes if you are mechanically inclined and have some soldering skills. Though, with a 70$ core I'd just replace the starter. An old timers trick is to whack the starter while someone holds the key in the start position. If the starter begins to work, blamo, need a starter. However, this wont diagnose all starter related problems so you may still need a new starter if the whack trick doesnt make the car start.

 

Thanks for the info. I decided to try to clean the battery terminals since they guy who owned it before me didn't drive it much and they could have been corroded. After one good cleaning I started it up. It hesistated but eventually took. I decided to lock up my other car (the one I drove there in) so I could pick up my wife so she could drive home a car. Unfortunately this required turning off my Del Sol. What do you know, it doesn't start back up again. After cleaning the terminals about 10 more times and still not getting anything, I started tracing out the wires to the starter/solenoid. I ran across a wire that was loose on the solenoid. It was a blade style crimp on connector. I plugged it back in and sure enough everything worked again. I was so happy to have it working again without having to drop a few hundred dollars into it that my wife and I went on a late night cruise. Thanks again to everyone who posted, it is much appreciated.

 

same thing happened in my del sol. it ended up being my distributor surprisingly enough. it was totally shot and acted the same as your sol.

 

The most common cause of electrical problems is unwanted resistance. That means bad or corroded connections. In your case the wire being off put air into the circuit which makes a poor conductor, increasing the resistance of the circuit and virtually ceasing all current flow. Glad you got it fixed. Feels good, eh?