Is it a sign that it is a battery problem if it is difficult to start a car in a hot or humid day?

I have a 99 civic and during the past months, it has been difficult to start the car. So far, every time I can manage to start it after I turn

the key a few times. There is a pattern though. It is more difficult to

get it started in a hot or humid day. I guess this gets rid off the possbility of bad starters or alternator and leaves the possibility of bad connection or battery. My question is that whether batteries work better in a hot/humid day or in a cold day. Also recently when I start the car, I can hear something like clear clicking sound, not from the engine or starter, but from the direction of glove compartment or further or somewhere roughly that direction. And when there is that clicking sound, I found it is much more difficult to start the car. And

yes, I also got a problem with my driver side door recently, months after the difficult starting problem. I can't lock the dirver side door. Even more wierd, occasionally, I can't open the door from inside after driving for a while. I can open it from outside though. Seemed it

gets all the logic wrong (prohibit people from getting out other than the other way). I don't know if the lock problem is connected to the starting problem. Sometimes, I am thinking maybe there is a problem of electric connection that get all things behavior strangely. Probably i will start a separate thread to ask about the lock problem.

Reply to
Honda2nd
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It could be a bad battery, could also be a bad relay or bad connections.

If it is the original battery in the car I would begin by getting a new one.

John

Reply to
John Horner

"Honda2nd"

If you hear a clicking sound from the glove compartment then it's the main relay. You can find the location and fix it here.

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You can also dielectric grease your plugs and seals the distributor cap.

Reply to
Ricky Spartacus

"Ricky Spartacus" wrote in news:Iw0ff.15554$ snipped-for-privacy@newssvr11.news.prodigy.com:

It could also be a bad starter solenoid....IF the car doesn't CRANK when the key is turned.(he didn't mention whether the car cranks or doesn't.If it does crank,then probably the main relay as you said.)

Some Honda products have "non-replaceable" solenoids,like my Integra. I found this on the 'net;

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for a $30 solenoid "rebuild" kit.I've ordered and installed this kit in my Integra,it solved the intermittent cranking problem I had.The parts were of excellent quality.

Reply to
Jim Yanik

Thanks all for the reply. Yes, I should add more information. i) many times, when I turn the key, there are immediate cranking noise and one or two more turns the engine can get started. But other times (when it is humid or hot or close to that), when I turned the key, almost nothing happens; I mean the light on the pannel is very dim and the cranking is very slow and weak if any. Since the light is very weak too, I guess it is still not a problem with the starter; more like being short of power (battery)? But if I keep the key in the position, after a few seconds, the engine can be started eventually even with the weak cranking. It is almost like coming back alive from a blackout. ii) recently seems that the car has been easier to get started. You know it is cold now. But there is one occasion that I got my car started easily and drove a few miles to a grocery and when I got out and started it, it was difficult to get started again. So far, every time I managed to get it started, even if when it begins like"being blackout". Yes, the clicks seemed having come from the box containing the fuse and relays. I don't hear the clicks all the time. When I hear it, it is difficult to get the car started and seems to me that the light is flashing following the weak cranking. More and more like to me a power problem. And it is not like the situation of "blackout". In the situations of "blackout" I mentioned above, the light is very weak to begin with and the cranking is slower and weaker and I don't hear the noise from the cranking. I guess I need to go straight for a new battery. Before snow piles up, I need to find it out somehow. And again, it has been better recently with the cold temperature....haha...

Reply to
Honda2nd

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