I’ve got one for ya guys. So I’ve got a friend with a 99-04 Honda Civic (not sure about the year), but it occasionally doesn’t want to start at all. Here was the situation. Two days ago, she went through a drive-thru and then parked and turned off the car for about 5 minute. When she sent to crank it up. It clicked once, that was it. She still had enough power though to run the radio and roll the windows up and down multiple times. I tried to jump it with my F150 and nothing. It also never even “sparked” when I put the cables on. I came out the next morning to look at it, and it started right up like nothing was wrong. It was cold the night before, but not lower than 20 degrees.
Other weird part is that it did the same thing today. I popped the hood and just tapped on the battery and other components lightly with a hammer, and it cranked right up. What could this be? Is it the starter? Is it the battery? Thanks for any help you can give me on this one.
It’s the solenoid inside the starter. The “tap with a hammer” solution will work for a while, until it doesn’t. Time for a new starter.
PS–meanwhile, the starter is what needs tapping, not the battery.
Check and clean the cables and connections including the ground connection from the battery and positive to the starter before throwing any parts at it. A battery check free from any parts store would be a good idea also.