3doorin

1990 Integra LS Stock

Hello all,

First off, I've been researching heavily on common problems similar to mine.

Basically- when I start my car and attempt to put on my headlights, the rpm's drop and then stalls out. When I put the key to ACC, the seatbelt retractor will slowly move along its rail when closing or opening the driver's door.

Also, my radiator fan is wired so that its on when key is on ACC. When I remove my key from the ignition, the fan is still on. Not sure why. I have to disconnect my Neg. terminal so it doesnt drain my batt.

I've replaced my positive and negative terminal cables with shiny new ones, cleaned the thermostat ground, check my alternator plug and all fuses. Not to sure where the other Grounds are besides those two above.

Had the battery tested at autozone-said it was at a 65% charge. I also dont know how old the battery is, so I am going to replace that anyway.

I'm getting a multimeter to check voltage drops soon, so I'll post that. If someone can show pictures of the grounds, that would be very helpful, Ive tried to search around, but can't accurately find the location of them in my engine bay.

fcm

Batt. to chassis ground, [under batt. if I remember] and chassis to engine ground, [fallow chassis ground cable to transaxle.

As for the rad fan problem it kind of depends on how it is "rewired" to be on when ign. is on.

The rad fan has 12V+ going to it all the time, white lead, [fuse 12-15A, hot at all times, in under dash fuse box] USDM G2s also have a "Radiator Fan Control Module" that will keep the rad fan on, for a min. or so, if oil temp. is up and ign. is turned off.

The RFCM supplies a ground trigger to the rad fan relay to turn it on, just like the ECT switch, the relay supplies the rad fan with a ground.

So the questions are...

Have you waited to see how long the rad fan stays on after ign. is turned off?

How exactly is the rad fan rewired to run off acc.?

Take the car to any alt./batt. shop, [Interstate Batteries] and they will do a proper load/alt./batt./charging test for free, it only takes a min. or so. 94

3doorin

thanks for the reply.

car off: 12.44v
car on no accessories: 14.56

As soon as I applied headlights, it drops to 12.07 as its stalling out.

I traced the radiator fan's power wire to under the cabin, wired directly into a plug on an alarm brain. (the alarm doesnt work, it's connected to the car's harness, but I dont use it-theres no horn, no key fob, its just there) I really want to remove the alarm brain and rewire everything back to stock, but I dont have any wire schematics to see what's what.

I unplugged it and connected the Neg. cable, and it still turns on. I also swapped batteries from a friends car. still the same problems. When I checked my gauge cluster, I noticed my speedometer needle melted off and fell. I was like...umm..?
Im very stumped. Feels like a bad alternator, but now it seems I got something else going on

edit: haven't checked to see how long the fan stays on yet.

fcm

Have you checked the batt. to chassis and chassis to engine grounds yet.

DO NOT just eyeball the connections, undo them and clean both contact surfaces, [get rid of any rust/corrosion] and reconnect making sure connections are tight..

You need to do the above even if it turns out not to be your problem, it eliminates it as the problem, and it can't hurt to redo the grounds on a car that is over 20 years old.


Removing the old alarm, [that may be your problem] is easy to do, just fallow any wires from the alarm to where they connect into the cars wiring and disconnect them.

It is my guess that in most cases the alarm wire will be connected to the cars wiring by cutting away some insulation off the cars wire and wrapping the alarm wire around it, it may be soldered and then covered with electrical tape.

You may get lucky and the alarm was just "punched out" using AMP or Ttap connections, in that case just "undo" the connections.

Any car wire that was cut in two and connected into the alarm, [starter wire for starter cut] will have to be reconnected, soldering and shrink tubing is the proper way to do it.

You will not need a "wire schematic" it will be obvious what connects to what and where.

When your removing the alarm you can see the wiring and if there is anything wrong, [ wires damaged by the alarm install, bare wiring touching anything or car wire not connected to anything] and fix that along the way.

You said, "I traced the radiator fan's power wire to under the cabin, wired directly into a plug on an alarm brain" a few questions...

1-Is that an added power wire, [not part of OEM wiring harness]?
2-Under the "cabin"??, do you mean run into the cabin and under the dash?
3-What "plug" on the alarm brain, are there any other wires on that plug, if so what color?

You also said, "I unplugged it and connected the Neg. cable, and it still turns on, some more questions...

1-You unplugged what, the plug in the alarm that the rad fan is wired to or the rad fan?
2-What turned on, the rad fan or the alarm?

No matter what, the rad fan should also be rewired correctly, there is no reason to have it running all the time.

It well may be your alt., a proper load test will tell you that, but no point is doing the test untill the above is fixed, and you well may find that the alt. was not the problem. 94

3doorin

Negative Battery Terminal cable to a spot located under the battery, near the top of the tranny. Is that the "batt. to chassis" you are talking about. Makes sense.

Im guessing this is the "thermostat ground" since it's on the housing on the lower radiator hose.


What exactly is the "chassis to engine ground" you were talking about?
As far as grounds, those are the only two I know of. I know there's a ground wire between the valve cover and chassis, but there hasn't been a wire there since I've had it for 3 years. Pictures would help immensely.

the fan's power wire was spliced a few inches after the radiator fan plug, then it was ran back under the dash. the wire's end was a plug that connected to the brain. i disco'd that plug on the brain and connected the neg. cable and the fan still turned on.

i still have no idea why my speedo needle melted off. i will take more detailed pics tomorrow so you may see exactly what's going on.

thank you for your help
3d

edit: both positive and negative battery cables have been replaced brand new. I even took sand paper to the surfaces before bolting them back up.

fcm

There has to be a ground between the batt. and the cars chassis, it is sometimes one ground cable from the batt. to the chassis and then to the engine.

Here is a 90 Integra batt. ground cable... http://www.oemacuraparts.com/find-pa.../KA5MT/BATTERY

Bolt #10 is your chassis ground, bolt #11 is your engine ground, [like in pic you posted]

Do you not have the bolt #10 connection? 94

3doorin

ah, I see what you are talking about now. That is not connected. I'm going back out to the car now, i'll see what happens. thanks!

3doorin

Heres a quick story. When I first got the car I replaced the neg cable from auto zone. The cable did not have that chassis ground. I've been running the car like that for three years never had a prob, until the head lights would stall my car out last week.

When I ordered new pos and neg cables from honda, I see that bolt that's supposed to into the chassis ground in the pic you posted. I never connected that since I didn't have to on the auto zone cable.

I bolted that chassis gnd up and fired the car up. Started up well and turned on parking lights. No rpms dropped. Turned on my head lights...no rpms drop! My car didn't stall out. I proceeded to turn all lights, radio...and still, car did not hesitate!

Heres the values of the volts on the batt
Car off 12.62
On no acc: 14.25
On with head lights, all interior lights, radio : 14.16

I assume that was a major ground. Just curious as to why I was driving it fine for years without it.

Thanks fcm, I probably would have never bolted that gnd back up. I'm going to put my cluster back in and see if everything is good

fcm

There are other places where engine is grounded to chassis, [that are not grounds, like the brake and fuel lines] and ones like the VC to rad support, however these are not proper batt. to chassis grounds.

Electricity takes the course of least resistance, so if something like 50A of current "tries" to ground through something like a speedometer gauge, [that runs on maybe .25A] something will melt, [and fall off] poor grounding will cause no end of issues/problems.

Sounds like your good to go, other then the speedo. 94

3doorin

thanks for all the advice fcm!

another question regarding lights..

when I press on the brakes, my gauge cluster lights dim. when I let go of the brakes, it lights back up. it has been doing this for many months, don't really know why. Is there a common ground that deals with this issue?

fcm

Until you get the charging system checked to eliminate it as the problem, I'm just guessing, but just like the last grounding problem, find dash harness ground(s) and redo them.

You can pull the "Dash Lights Brightness Controller" and test continuity to chassis ground of the black lead going to it, the DLBC supplies the ground for the dash lights, [red lead] so the ground to the controller, [black] must be good along with the DLBC itself.

It is not unusual for the dash lights to dim a little when you step on the brakes, they will also dim when you turn on anything, blower motor, head lights and so on, you notice the brake doing it a lot more because it is an intermitant dimming. 94