Bumble_bee's 4g wont start

[Dbo]

i was lucky with mine i had a starter switch fitted as you could waggle the key in the ignition and press the starter button at the same time to start the car. but with no start button the second your key turns the barrel past contact point you get nothing as the contacts being burnt out

[littlefeller]

contacts burning out is real common, mine did exactly this but i had nothing, not even dash lights, doesnt mean it isnt this, if it is thats a real easy fix when i removed the contact part of the switch it was full of melted solder so was real easy to establish the fault but then why start with a jump start, have you tried jumping it again?
if it starts with a jump then an earth (ground) the same as my old ford is the most likely culprit

[paul bristol uk]

As littlefeller says if it starts with a jump lead it has to be a earth(ground) fault. Try that again and see if it fires. If it does that is your problem.

[Drax]

As littlefeller says if it starts with a jump lead it has to be a earth(ground) fault. Try that again and see if it fires. If it does that is your problem.

we tried starting with jump leads the first time the problem occurred last week, and it didnt work - i may have been wrong in saying "jump start", but what i meant was push start sorry, my mistake.

im in the process of swapping the ignition switch with mine to see if that's the culprit:

[Gayno]

It does sound like it's the contact at position 3 of the ignition barrel that's at fault.

Quickest way to test without swapping them over, get your steering cowling off, turn key to position 2, then use a length of wire to apply 12v to the external contact of position 3. If the starter motor then blips you know the problem is the barrel.

Certainly sounds like it if you could push start it.

[paul bristol uk]

Now we have a different ball game, Gayno has probably hit this on the head. With my previous Lude it was intermittant and the contacts were crudded up. Have a look at them if Gayno's idea works and then try cleaning them. Or you could try blasting the area with switch cleaner which may or maynot fix it.

The last time I enquired from Mr Honda 7 years ago the switch was 70 odd quid plus VAT. See if anyone is breaking one and get a switch that way. Remember you don't need the barrel(unless you want a pocket full of keys.

[littlefeller]

if it is this, then you can repair the old one , i did.
i sold one of these just a couple of weeks ago for a tenner i think so you can find them cheap if you look around, pretty sure i brought it complete with barrel for around £20 but then never got around to fitting it as i repaired mine with some clever bending of the parts inside i kept the spare in the boot for around 2-3 years waiting for it to fail again but never did so i sold it to someone who needed it its easy to get too and quick to repair

[Drax]

its beginning to look more and more like either the barrel is faulty, or the ignition switch.

ive barely had time to touch it for a few days, after swapping over the starter motor:





and then when that didnt work, i started stripping away the steering column to take off the immobiliser and tonight when it was getting dark, while stripping crappy black tape from wiring, i accidentally touched two connection together and it briefly tried to start itself - but it made me jump so much (as i was upside down under the steering column) that as soon as it fired i parted the contacts so they wouldn't fire! so tomorrow ill try test starting it (and take more pics of the work) and hopefully narrow down even more what the problem will be

[Drax]

now ive taken off the main section of the imobiliser...



and spliced back together the wries it was attached to (the ignition switch wiring) it now starts!!



also used a small rubber bung for where the imobiliser key used to go



now all i need to do is find the last part of the imobilser (which still beeps sometimes when i open the car ) and then put it all back together.

[indigolemon]

Good job man!