98 Civic not starting after fuse change

eksedandude

New Member
Let me just give some background info to start out. I'm not new to Honda's but have been out of the import scene for a few years. Have built several Honda and Integra's in the past, I know these cars pretty well but have never seen an issue like this and it has me stumped. I recently got this 98 LX and it has ran great until today, but the heater contols have never worked and the car has no heat or defrost, so I was checking fuses trying to see if maybe it was simply a blown fuse. All the fuses in the interior box were good, but I found one blown fuse in the hood fuse box, it was a 7.5 amp fuse near the back corner of the box....my diagram tells me this fuse was for the main relay and fuel pump, which didn't make sense to me because the car has ran flawlessly up until I changed that blown fuse for a new one, now the car will crank just fine but wont fire up. I even tried putting the blown fuse back in and it still wont start again, and didn't blow the new fuse I put in it either. I checked the main relay and all the solder connections on it seem to be in good shape, none are burnt or cracked, the relay looks fairly new actually. There was a spare main relay in the glove box so I tried it and it didn't make a difference either.

One thing I did notice is that there was an old fuse box laying in the trunk where someone has obviously swapped out the stock under hood fuse box for a new one, but I'm not sure why, the old one still looked to be in good shape also. I checked the fuel filter and it is full of fuel, but I don't hear the fuel pump come on when the key is turned on. I'm wondering what could have happened when I put the new fuse in, that would cause the car not to start back? Let me just say this car isn't stock, the engine bay is fully tucked, has a stock Y7 engine and P20 5speed trans, with a P2E Ecu that I believe has been chipped or tuned. If anyone has any idea what could be the cause of the car not starting, please throw those ideas my way, I'm willing to try anything I can to get it running again. Is there a way to bypass the main relay to see if that is the problem before spending the money on a new one? Would resetting the ecu possibly fix the issue? I didn't reset the ecu yet because I dont want to add to the problems since I know little to nothing about the history of this car. Thanks for any help you fella's can offer
 

dancam

Member
Registered VIP
Check if you have fuel pressure. Someone may have wired the fuel pump from somewhere else other than the fusebox and put a blown fuse in so the box looked good to sell. Maybe by putting power through it you shorted something. Anyway, check for what your not getting. Start with fuel, then spark.


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willost

New Member
I would put fuse back in a tap on the main fuel relay while cranking

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eksedandude

New Member
I would put fuse back in a tap on the main fuel relay while cranking

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I did this and the car started. At first I reset the ecu and car fired right up, drove around all day with no problems. Got home and shut it off, cane back out an hour later to go somewhere and wouldn't start again so I unplugged the main relay and tapped it on the ground a few times, plugged it back up and it started right up. I guess the main relay is the problem after all, right?
 


eksedandude

New Member
Another thing, I pulled the codes by jumping the 2 wire plug near the ecu and I'm getting code 64 and 65, but from what I can tell one of those numbers doesn't exist in the code diagram, and the other is a secondary o2 sensor unless I'm looking at the wrong code list....does this make sense to anyone?
 

willost

New Member
Yes it's bad. You can take it apart and see if one of the solder can off the circuit board and fix it

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