ok now im getting desperate. they car will not start with the key. it does start if you push-start it. we have checked the starter, battery, starter fuse, and the neutral safety switch. what am i missing? we tested it and found that no power is going to the starter. why is this? (its a 96 civic 4 door. when we turn the key a few of the dash lights flash on and stay on. umm the 1's that i remember are the srs light (i dunno what that is) the check engine light and umm not sure what else. any help is appriciated.

 

pull the steering col. off n see if any wires broke off the the ign. switch

 

ok ill look in to that. oh and is the ecu in the front right of the car. like neart the passengers feet. because i could hear a click, like a single click coming from that side /area of the car each time i would turn the key.

 

Relay?

 

is there a relay for the starter? and if there is where is it located?

 

some say there is a relay for the starter. I personally have never found one. Had a couple older cars exact same thing happened to. End up getting a horn button from advance and wiring that to the starter with a hot wire. I know its not the proper way but sometimes you got to do what you got to do!

 

Make sure it'll start from the ignition harness then go from there to the ecu or relay box under the hood if it doesn't. Could be:
bad ign switch
bad starter relay (under hood in large"ish" fuse box)
loose wiring from ign harness
bad ground at fuse/relay box
and a number of other things. But, that should cover the basics. Let us know what happens.
My friend actually had a bad starter relay, we had to take it out and jump the open circuit to get it to start until he got a new one.

 

You need to try to "hot wire" it first and that will give you a good idea of where to go from there.

 

You should buy a multimeter, find (at the ignition switch) which wire is 12v, take a big gauge wire (10 to 12 gauge) and touch it to the 12v wire and the starter wire at the same time. You can pretty much touch it to any wire there and not mess anything up. The only wires there are accessory (which will turn on the lights/radio/etc.), the ignition (power on all ignition controlled devices that draw current only when the vehicle is running, or in that position), maybe second ign. or second acc., 12v and starter. You will know when you touch the starter wire. You will hear it crank. If you accomplish that then touch the ignition and starter wire to the 12v at the same time. Like I said, you're basically "hot wiring". I will try to find the wiring diagram/schematic for you. Give me the model of your civic, dx, ex, whatever and I'll try to find it.

 

Have you checked your main relay yet??