The car was running fine about a week ago then i put her on jackstands to change the tranny fluid. When i set her down the car wouldn't start or crank at all, it would just make a high pitched buzzing sound. So I thought i might have hit a wire on the starter when i was taking off the fill plug for the tranny. Checked all the wires and it still wouldnt run. I went ahead and tried to jump the starter. when i was doing that i heard a noise coming from the engine bay, turns out it was the trailing coil. Didnt check the trailing coil yet but i did try to start the car one more time. This time nothing worked; headlights, taillights, NOTHING! Anybody have any ideas?

 

Most likely the connections at the battery. Or even the connectors themselves that attach to the battery.

Have you check the MAIN fuse in the engine bay? 80 amp one that is held in the box by a 10mm head size bolt???

It could be the single black wire that runs from the engine bay fuse box to the ignition switch. Got a meter??? Pull the connectors off the ignition lead located about a foot below the ignition switch and check the black wire for 12. The half that comes from the engine bay. Should be there all the time.

That same black wire originates about four inches below the engine fuse box. It's a single blade connector. Did it come apart????

That's the best I can do from here. There's too many things that could be amiss. Those strike me as the most probable.

How about with the engine off, you put your meter on the output wire on the alt and see if there is 12v there with the key to OFF???? Is there 12v there?

 

This just happened to me. I couldn't figure out what it was at first becuase I've never seen it happen, but yes the posts on the battery sometimes go bad. My battery was charged and I couldn't even get a light inside the car to turn on when attached. Solution - New battery.

 

Have you tried cleaning battery posts and connectors, Maybe it could be as simple as that?

I was going to go buy a new battery because I wasnt getting any power and I know the battery is fully charge. So I cleaned them and it started right up.

 

This is likely the solution, but in my case it was not. They were brand new looking after I got to them, but I still couldn't get a charge out of them. If I was lucky I could get the DMM test leads to register 12 volts, but it was very difficult.

Another battery and the car started no problem.

 

Well the car has power again... I think i may have shorted something out when i tried to jump the starter. I went under the car a second time to try and jump the starter again and once again the car pretty much died again. Few hours later i have power again. I checked the starter hot wire and its getting 9V to it. I checked the 80 amp fuse in the engine fuse box, it looks fine. I also cleaned the battery connections and the battery itself. Now the problem once again is that the car does not start. It makes a high pitched buzzing sound that sounds like its coming from the Trailing coil, but not quite sure(i asked 3 different people to listen to it but they all told me different places) It also makes 1 click when i turn the key all the way and that sounds like its coming from the ECU.

 

The buzzing is coming from the main relay.

Could you have hooked up the battery jump leads backwards???

Either way with only 9 volts at the starter, your battery is dead or has a bad connection.

 

Well i checked the battery and it shows like 11.79 volts so it must be a bad connection right? And i'm sure that the battery isnt hooked up backwards. I'm sorry for asking this... I did do a search on it and i checked manuals but where is the main relay!? I know in hondas its on the driverside under the steering wheel somewhere.

 

That is too low.

The battery should be showing 12.5- 12.6 volts.

If it is showing less than that, there is at least one bad cell or the battery is dead.

 

I just tried to jump the car and still didnt start... So i'm guessing its a bad connection somewhere. It could be the main relay too right? I'm also going to take off the starter to have my mechanic check the starter/solenoid. Anybody in OC want to come by and help this newbie?!