One day my dad’s 2001 Honda Civic wouldn’t start. Turn the key, dash lights up, engine doesn’t turn over. Now as a beginning mechanic my diagnosis skills aren’t too great, and I’d had a couple minor failures, but I’ll always try.

When I turned the key, I noticed that I didn’t hear any click from the starter, which meant that nothing was happening. My first check was battery voltage, as it always should be when your problem involves the electrical system. It tested fine, so the next thing to do was check for voltage at the wiring connections on the starter itself. Everything was getting full voltages when it was supposed to, so that led me to believe that it must be some sort of internal problem in the starter. A quick run to the parts store, a few minutes to install a new starter, and the car started right up.

It’s always a huge confidence booster when you successfully diagnose and repair a problem.

-Dan