2001 Honda Civic won't crank/no instrument panel/can't take

SPRIDMORE

MEMBER
2001 HONDA CIVIC

Electrical problem
2001 Honda Civic 4 cyl Two Wheel Drive

When problem first occured, the car engine would not turn over and ther was no clicking sound when the ignition key was turned. Only the brake light was illuminated on the instrument panel. The map lights were on(not sure if they were left on from the night before). Thought the battery may have been dead, so I tried to jump the car off. When jumper cables were attached, an abnormal amount of sparks occured at the jumper cable to battery connection.

Now the engine will not turn over and no clicking sound when the ignition key is turned. No lights on instrument panel will come on. No lights anywhere on car will come on. Car will not come out of park.

2 Replies

RASMATAZ

MECHANIC
75,992 POSTS

Check and test all the fusible links

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Friday, November 20th, 2009 AT 3:05 PM

SPRIDMORE

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To Rasmataz:
Thanks for the reply and information. It was the 80A battery fusible link, it had blown. I'm not sure what caused the fuse to blow, but all is good for now.
This is my 17 year old daughter's car and I was out of town when the problem occured. It was actually my son who tried to jump the car off when the excessive sparking occured at the jumper cable/battery connection. I thought maybe my son hooked the jumper cables up incorrectly and caused the fuse to blow. He is certain that he hooked them up correctly. Something else that occured when he hooked up the jumper cables was that the horn blew momentarily and then quit blowing.
There are things I still don't understand about what occured. If the reason the map lights were on (they were still lit up)was because they had been left on from the night before, why would the engine not turn over or no clicking noise occur when the ignition key was turned. It seems if the battery was good enough to make the map lights burn, there would have been enough power to at least make a clicking sound. Maybe the battery was just too weak. But I still don't understand why the fuse blew. It seems to me that the car would have jumped off and all would have been good.
Hopefully replacing the 80A battery fusible link has solved the problem and it won't blow again.
Once again thanks for your reply and information.