DarkDaysX6

I'm baaaaack with another seemingly unsolvable problem. It's worth mentioning beforehand that I have no multimeter. Here's the rundown.

I bought a battery for the 00' Civic EX in January of 2012 and drove the car for a few months before setting it aside. Since then the battery has sat off of the car since I was swapping it. I finished the swap (another d16y8) and just as I figured the battery wasn't capable of starting the car anymore. I had a friend give the battery an overnight "full charge" on his charger and when I got the battery back from him the Civic started right up with no problem.

With the problem SEEMING to be fixed I went along my normal business and used the car as a daily driver. Recently the battery has found its way back to being dead so I removed it and took it to the parts store so they charge it back up and test it. Their finding is that the battery was fine and passed their test. I put the battery that had now been charged by my friend AND the parts store back in the car and it worked fine for about a day.

Back to the same old no-start-game the next morning. They suggested that I try new cable ends because the old ones were wiggly even when fully tightened so I cut the stock ones off and bolted some brand new ones on. After I had the new connectors put on nice and tight the car would run all day long and crank just like new every time I turned it off. The problem is - here I am about 2 weeks after THAT purchase with the same exact problem again.

If I get in the car all of the lights work with a reasonable brightness and it will try it's best to crank but it sluggishly comes to a halt and the more I try it the less it will go obviously. If I jump the car off with another working vehicle the Civic starts right up immediately and idles fine without even a few moments connected to the other car.

My assumption is that if the alternator was the source of the problem that once the car was jumped off and the cables were removed that it would slowly die but here's the kicker - It keeps running! After I get someone to jump the car and remove the cables it will idle just fine until it hypothetically runs out of gas. I can take off, push the brakes, turn AC/Radio on and everything without issue. If the alternator was shot it would make the car die during operation, correct? The second bit of funny business about this is that although the car will keep running uninterrupted, if i turn it off even for a second it will go right back to zero power and a mush crank.

I've read other threads that tell of parasitic drains on the battery that occur when the car has been sitting off overnight or similar amount of time but this problem I'm having seems to be hit and miss. I can hop in the car and start it one minute and once I get to my destination it will not start again and I get stranded.

This is especially frustrating to me because I was capable of putting a new block, transmission, and head in the car got it to run smooth but I can't even seem to nip an electrical problem. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I have not had the alternator removed and tested and I haven't checked fuses. All grounds and cables look okay and like I said this only happens sometimes.

eghatch9295

iTrader: (1)

pull your starter and have it tested.

DarkDaysX6

Update - Upon closer inspection around the whole harness, the cable going to the alternator was green and scaly, almost disintegrating at the bolt end. Replaced it and recharged the battery again so it works for now.... I will update if anything new arises. Thanks EgHatch!

kab00m

I have nothing to say that is directly related to helping you fix your problem, but please do not remove the battery cables while the car is running. This proves absolutely nothing but a lack of mechanical know how by whomever told you to do such a thing.

DarkDaysX6

Haha thanks for that kab00m. Heard and considered. I went and used the free multimeter coupon at Harbor Freight and got one. I was skeptical but now I can be another verification that the coupons work! They expire at the end of the month so anyone without a multimeter should jump on it even though it's a cheap one. A cheap one's better than not having one.