Hi guys

Very very annoyed this morning. The car completely would not start. Could hear split second of an engine starting, literally a few milliseconds followed by a constant clicking sound, like a rattling. The engine does not start at all.

The battery seems to be fine - I can use the radio, air, everything, lights.
Oil levels are fine.

I was trying to fit component speakers in it yesterday and had wired it all up fine and it was working.

But I can hardly see why the engine isn't starting and am kinda worried now! The engine is not cold, since it is hot over here in the UK.

I have a Honda Jazz SE Sport 2002 model, it has done about 47k miles and was serviced about a year back.

Also no warning lights that are out of the ordinary. With ignition, the battery and the oil light as well as EPS shows up, which apparently is OK since after the engine starts these should turn off

Any ideaS?????????

 

That would be a constant power drain there in your new audio system I bet. Your battery is dead to the point it can't supply enough current to start it but it will run the accessories. I've seen it many times. The "rattle" is the starter solenoid disengaging every time the starter drains the current, then re-contacting when current returns to it until the starter drains the line again, and over and over and over.

Charge it up and find where your leak is (or the battery actually died as in doornail, as in it can't generate the starting current anymore, that happens a lot on our micro-sized little power packs).

 

Your battery is dead. It has enough juice for the little accessories, but not enough to power the starter. Unless you've been putting a large drain on the battery for some reason, it probably just isn't holding a charge any longer. Time for a trip to Wal-Mart... er, Asda.

 

I almost posted something extremely similar to the above two posters, but . . .

Are you 100% sure the battery is fine? Starting the engine takes a whole lot more juice than accessories & lights, it's very possible they would "work" short term, while not having enough power to start the car.

 

Glad to hear that it's most likely the battery. Strange though. I took off the driver side speaker bracket, ripped out the whole thing leaving the plastic bracket edge and then mounted a jbl gt6.0c speaker. Attached tweeter to this and put it back in thr door. My subwoofer runs on a remote lead only if the radio is on.

Perhaps testing thr system yesterday without using the engine was enough to cause thr problem. Will check it out and get back to u

 

oh yeah.. depends on what amp your using also it could drain the hell out of your battery... I done that a long time ago on my civic hatch back years and years ago and I had the same problem as you gurdain. All i did was charge my battery back up and WHA LA PRESTO! good as new.

 

Cool

I'm going to get it charged up now and then going to take it to Halfords to get the battery tested.

I feel there is definitely either a battery problem or a ground issue, because I've always had a little noise in my subwoofer no matter where I try and ground it. Sometimes the light in my car flickers too when the door is open...

Will update you guys later on. While I'm at it, I might get my component speakers professionally fitted.

DIY job for the Honda Jazz takes absolutely ages:

Install 6.5″ Component Speakers using OEM Bracket | Honda Fit DIY

And that's even before finding a place to put the tweeter - my car didn't come with any, nor any place to put them...

 

if the light flickers... you need a capacitor.. your amp is drawing to much current from your battery everytime it hits. As for the noise... you might need a noise filter and all your buzzing noise will go away... some amps have the noise filters built in.

 

Hah, wait until you guys see what I'm having to do to get my components mounted . . . (elemental design audio e9.65i's, they're gigantic). For now I'll just say that I had to go out and buy a new metal cutting blade for my jigsaw. And that if I ever want to return my car back to stock, I'll need to buy new door panels.

 

no its not when it hits. when the subwoofer is playing, i don't really get any noticeable light flickering.

when i open the back door, or any door im not sure, sometimes it flickers.

anyway guys - i jummp started the car today and so you guys were right

gona take it to halfords tomorrow to get it checked and then continue with my DIY job for the components.

i have mounted the midrange driver in the door and because its thicker, the bottom part of the panel doesnt attach to the door - but im not bothered because the screws in the centre keep the door handle firm and usable. when the door is shut, everything is locked in anyway - so its only a problem when the door is open and even then, it isnt even a big deal....

i ran the tweeter wire up the door and brought it into the car from the door handle space. im going to velcro the tweeter and either attach it to the dash as a removable thing, or attach to the door with velcro and mask the wires with some tape. no biggie i dont think - just got to get the other side of the door done.

 

There's nothing wrong with your car, I drive a towtruck for a living and I see what your describing daily in the city I live in. Everything is fairly close but a lot of people still drive. They start there car...drive 5 minutes to where they are going. Start the car and drive 5 mins home, repeat this a bunch of times. Your basically takeing more power out of the battery then your putting in each time.

What you get is what happened to you. Other things can also cause it, like running a stereo without the car running etc.

All you had was a low battery...NOT a dead battery. As some mentioned above your starter motor takes a lot more juice to turn then accessories such as the radio and lights so those things will still come on giving you the illusion that you still have power, but it won't be enough to turn the starter motor. The clicking noise was indeed the selenoid in the starter doing it's thing, but without the required power to turn the starter motor it was all in vain.

As long as there are no other underlying issues a boost will get you going, and running your car for 30 - 45 mins with as few accessories as possible on should solve your problem.

 

I have noticed that the battery cables are really small in diameter and not as capable of carrying the amperage that larger cables do..... This was a problem on Ford products for years and easily corrected by installing larger cables.