2012–2015 Honda Civic Starter Replacement | Easy Step-by-Step DIY

0:00 Today, we're going to be putting a starter in this 2012 Honda Civic. There's not a lot of information out there on the Google webs that tells you how to install a starter on a Honda Civic 2012 1.8 engine. I got a starter. I'll put timestamps so you guys can just jump right to how to get the starter out. And let me tell you, it's not fun. This will be the first time for me changing a starter in one of these uh engines as well, okay? So, what I have come to discover is the starter is underneath the manifold. They say you got to take the manifold off and all of that stuff. Uh I'm going to get set up here, guys. Look at that guy. Just do it. Before you even start at doing anything with your starter on any vehicle, you should disconnect the battery, okay?

0:57 Negative terminal, grab your 10 mm. If it's a 2000 a 2012 Honda Civic 1.8, it's a 10 mm socket. As I mentioned, the starter is behind the manifold. And a lot of people say that you got to take the manifold off to get at the starter. No, you don't. Not in this 1.8 2012 Honda Civic. You have to do it from up and underneath. And once you get up underneath here, right in the center of the car, the center of this engine right beneath the manifold, there's a bracket you have to take off first. It's a I think it's a 10 mm and a 12 mm socket you got to use down there for that bracket before you can take the starter off. That So, I'm going to get back at you, guys. I'm going to jack this up, get this up on stands, then I'll get back to you as I'm going up underneath, and I'll take the light and show you more, okay? I'm up

1:49 underneath the car, and right here is the starter right there. I'm This is the crossmember going across the car. That's the engine. This is the This is the engine. That's the transmission. I'm more towards the passenger side, okay? There he is. He's right there. There is the starter. And if you see that bracket right there, this one right here, you have to take this bracket off, okay? This bracket has to come off. I see the bolts for the starter up top. And it's not going to be fun. So, guys, I ended up taking off the passenger side tire. And the reason why is well, the internet says you you don't have to, but I'm learning that it's easier, plus you you're letting more light in. So, I got both tires off.

2:52 And I'm going to take this plastic shroud off. I'm on the passenger side. I'm using a very long extension here on my ratchet wrench. Way inside. It's a bit tricky, but the bolt is right in here. This is the bottom bolt. And there's a wire there from the wiring harness, and it makes it very difficult. But that's the bottom bolt. There's a nut. And the problem is is this wiring harness right here is right in front of this bolt. And it makes it so difficult to get at anything. And here's the bottom bolt, guys. Here he is right here, the bottom bolt. So, he's out. It's easier to do it from the passenger side because that's the way the starter's facing. The back end

4:11 of the starter is basically This is basically how the starter sits is like this. So, the starter sits like this up inside here, way up in the in the middle. So, the starter sits like this. Exactly like that. And you can't get at This is the wire for the starter. You can't get at that until you literally get the starter out. So, to pull this plug, to get this wire off, which is the main battery wire, you first This is your top bolt. This top bolt, guys, is right here, okay? This top bolt goes in there, screws in, and this is how much sticks out. Let me tell you guys, you guys saw previously I had four extensions connected to the ratchet to get this off, and it's not easy. Your arms are going to tell you it's not easy, okay?

5:02 Now, the bottom bolt on the starter, you see the hole right there, he wasn't so bad. A little bit tricky because wires are in the way, but not so bad. The biggest issue I had, now let me tell you guys this, this is important in my opinion. Don't even try to take all the wires and all the connections off these brackets. Uh well, you can't get at these till you get the starter out anyway, but all this stuff here, because all the wires, they connect to these brackets. All the wiring harness, all the little connectors, don't try to get them out until the starter is out. Once you get the starter out of cup, out of the ring gear, then you can manipulate the starter, which gives you more room to take this stuff off. You can only do that once you have the two bolts out, the starter is pulled out from the transmission, okay?

5:56 Don't even try to attempt to take none of these wires off because you won't be able to do it, and you're just going to say "Ow, ouch, uh, scream, yell, ball, say words that shouldn't be said, and that's what's to that. This is very important. You see how this nut I have laid on top of this new starter, okay? Pay attention, guys. So, when you buy the starter, it actually comes like this, okay? Like that. When you're disconnecting your starter from your wiring harness on your car, do not disconnect it from here. Don't do that because you won't know how the wire goes back on, and when you try to fish the starter back up, the wire will be sitting at a wrong angle, and you won't be able to get it in. So, you take it off right from the starter. Then this stuff is obsolete, and the old one is sitting on the wiring harness right ready to connect to the starter. It makes it so much easier. So, completely,

6:56 when you buy your new starter for your Honda Civic, it's going to come with this piece like this. Bolts in here, 12 mm. Bolts out here, 12 mm. You could take it each way. So, don't take your wire off from here. Take this off. Take this new one. Just lay it somewhere. You don't ever need it again. Unless your other one's corroded, then obviously you could switch them on the wiring harness, but when I go down now, I'm just taking my existing wire down there, and I'm going to connect it. It has to be the right way, and the wiring goes straight down the back end of the starter. So, when you connect it, face it so the wiring is going straight down.

7:33 Guys, that's important. If not, you'll do everything and try to fit the starter back up inside, but the wire will be running off in different in a different location, and you won't be able to fit the starter in. Remember, you have to supply [snorts] this in to the transmission bell housing. And that's not fun if you got wires in the way. So, don't do it. Guys,

7:54 the stuff we do for our children. You see how happy she is? For me, it makes it all worth it, 100%. You can't do anything up top. You can't do anything from the driver side. Everything has to be done as you were seeing on the camera when I was using the extensions right from the passenger side. That's it. What started to happen was it was just sometimes, once every couple months, it was clicking. I'm going to have something to drink, wet the back neck, let the bones start to, you know, resettle themselves. I'm wounded on every part of my body from climbing around, crawling around, trying to get my arms to fit. And then I'm going to get back at it, show you guys how I'm going to put the starter back in. And I tried to give you guys video, but the problem is is with the camera up there, which is so tight up there anyway, I can't get around the camera.

8:44 So, I'm just going to put this one up in kind of a situation of a place. And what I'm going to do is I'm going to connect the main starter wire because there's you have to connect the main starter wire and another clip before you feed it up inside cuz you can't get at it from the top. So, all I'm doing here, guys, I'm just fitting this one up inside so I can pop my main ignition wire on the starter. And there's not a lot of room. If I can tell you anything about doing this starter, it's you have no room. There's barely any room for anything. Now, I already have my nut placed on. That's why I have it on there. And I got it up in place. So, I'm going to pull him off now with

9:48 my fingers. This is the wire I was telling you about. About not connecting the one end. Doing it like this. Now, you have this connection. You have this connection right here because this is the top of the starter. We have to turn this around after we get this done. And Okay, so. Let's pull this back a little bit because it doesn't matter that I'm holding the camera and doing this at the same time because you can only get one hand up in here anyways. And Well, So, guys, this one connects right here. And you can only get one hand on. I have this one put back in place. And I have this clip put back on. As I said, this is actually the top of the starter, but you can only do that before

11:32 you put the starter in so you can twist the starter so you can actually get them on cuz you can't do it from the top. It's impossible to get your hands up and do it from the top anyways. Now, there's a black little cover that goes on this and we're going to go get it and we're going to put it back on. So, this is the little cap. This is the hardest starter I've ever had to install, okay? So, I'm going to fit that starter up in the hole and I'll get back to you. All I'm doing is pushing it up in the hole. That's all I'm doing it, guys, and then I'll get back to you with the camera. He's installed. Now, do your

12:05 battery test. See if there's any sparks. And I'm going to explain to you about the top bolt on that starter. Let's see. I can't really sit in it. I'm completely dirty. And the keys are right here. Ah, you think that I would have put them on the driver's seat, would you? Now, let's see what happens. Beautiful. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. My My advice to anyone that's not mechanically inclined to take upon a job like this on a 2012 Honda Civic 1.8 L engine, if you're not you know, um very, very, very mechanically inclined, I wouldn't advise you taking on a job like this yourself. You could break wires. There's a lot going on down

13:11 there, guys, okay? It's It's It's not an easy job at all. All right, guys, thanks for watching. Hope this helps. And I'll see you on the next one. Don't forget you can leave me a like and a subscribe if you like. And if you feel like subscribing, subscribe. And you can also check out my merch. Look, I'm making my merch dirty for you guys, okay? Look at the dirt. Look at it. That's all from working on that car, okay? So, you guys need to go in and buy some merch so I can afford to get myself another shirt. I have to buy it, too. Anyway, guys, the Civic says see you later in Chinese. I'm saying see you later in English and we'll see you on the next one.