Replacing the starter in a 7th gen?

[bikinpunk]

My wife jumped in her car to head off to work last night and ... zzt... zzzttt....zzztt... no start.
The battery read 12.4v and all the accessories came on.

My first though was "bad starter", but since she had to leave and I had to watch our 4 month old, I didn't and still haven't had a chance to do any further troubleshooting. I just handed her the keys to my car.

When I get home from work tonight I plan to try to jump the car off to make sure it's not the battery. In haste, I went ahead and started a thread in case it is a bad starter.
Let's say that it is a bad starter, for the sake of this thread and the time it would take me to receive an answer if I were to post this tonight. Does anyone have any tips/directions on replacing the starter for a 2005 civic lx (sedan)?

From what I've read, it's a fairly simple process, but any information that you guys can provide me would be greatly appreciated as it will save me the headache of having to figure it out later tonight. Time is critical with a 4 month old so any time saved is great!

Thanks

 

[RonJ]

Do you have an auto or manual transmission?

The starter has two power wires, a large wire for the starter motor and a small wire for the starter solenoid. Check whether the large wire has battery voltage and whether the small wire has battery voltage with the key in ON(III) (and clutch pedal depressed for a manual transmission). If both have voltage, then the starter is likely bad.

 

[bikinpunk]

It's an auto.

I just tried to troubleshoot it. All the fuses are OK. The battery voltage is fine and even with it on a charger (and with jumper cables to boot), I get the same issue. The car acts like it wants to start.. it just doesn't.
Gas is full to the brim (I just filled it up the night before).

I'll take a look at the provided info and post back. Thanks for your help.

 

[RonJ]

Did you measure battery voltage at both starter wires i mentioned?

 

[bikinpunk]

got it. and guess what it is... dead battery. :rolleyes:

I jumped it earlier and it wouldn't turn over.
I left it connected for about 10 minutes and still nothing. My buddy, who is a ford mechanic, told me to leave it connected to mine for a bit longer just to make sure. Sure enough, it started up after 20 minutes.

He said to never trust a static DMM reading. He has people come in all the time with a simple dead battery issue but swear up and down that the DMM said it was fine. Add me to that stat...

Thanks for your help, though. I'm upset that it was something so simple, but am pleased at the same time.