95 Odyssey- heater cable and starter

My Ody has developed 2 problems and I would like a little reality check on
both of them.

1. The heater control cable has become disconnected. The cable has detached
from the dash control unit. It is not at the valve's end of the cable. Heat
lever works freely (too freely!). Can this be a simple clip replacement, or
a minor repair, or does this usually mean that the Control Unit has to be
replaced?

2. The car will sometimes not start when the key is turned. The dash lights
come on and they dim when the attempt to start is made... but no engine
cranking occurs. Does that sound like the solenoid? If so, does that mean a
new starter?

Thanks, Larry

 

How minor it is depends on how handy a person is, because
taking dashes even partially apart is often a pain. You will
have to pull the climate (= dash) control unit and examine
the connection. See
http://www.autozone.com/shopping/repairGuide.htm?pageId=0900c152800b0bf6

One candidate is bad solenoid starter contacts. See
http://www.nationsautoelectric.com/Nippondenso.html (thanks
to Curly for this link). This is a known problem on older
Hondas. Other causes are possible.

 

A solution for you on the obvious side, assuming it's a standard... do you
have the clutch pedal down when starting?

My wife's car has a clutch switch killswitch on it and the exact thing with
the dash lights and lack of cranking happens.

 

also check out this site concerning your starter solenoid and worn
contacts.some Hondas don't have a replaceable solenoid.

http://www.nationsautoelectric.com/Nippondenso.html

 

No kill switch. but thanks.

 

Apparently, mine is one of the non-replacement types (solenoid contacts).
The 95's apparenlty had Mitsuba (SM402-03) starters, not NDs (acc to
http://www.wai-wetherill.com/home.cfm ).

As far as the ignition switch goes.. could be! The thing that I keep
thinking about though is the fact that the problem is kind of digital....
either works or it doesn't, on or off. There is nothing in between like a
sluggish starter and I would think that a bad ignition switch would give a
range of conductivity issues. Logic, however, does not always previal. This
is where experience would could for a lot. Maybe a loose connector of some
kind? Thanks, Lar

 

One other obvious question that I don't see anyone has brought up --
how old is the battery? Seeing as how you've got resistance when you
try to start it (lights dim), its pretty much got to be either a weak
battery, a starter that is staring to draw too much, or increased
resistance somewhere in the path between the two.

 

Just wanted to close this up. The heater cable had become disconnected from
the lever!!! So, that was great.

But the starter was bad, so I let my mechanic change it out.

Thanks for all your help. It was invaluable... and fun!!!

Have a safe and fun New Years!!. Larry