machgo

Yesterday alternator blew the battery. Dash was a real light show with everything turning on and off, indicator lights, wipers, etc. Smoke wisped up inside the instrument cluster. Limped to a safe parking lot whereupon car totally died--no power whatsoever. Also had smoke coming from the center of the firewall under the hood--may have been spraying battery acid hitting the hot engine, not sure.

New battery and car starts just fine, but whatever happened blew all the brake light bulbs, turn signal bulbs, the radiator fan won't stop running because the relay is blown, driver's window won't go up.

Weirdest thing though--when I step on the brake pedal, my reverse glow gauges (wired to come on when parking or headlights are on) and front parking lights turn on!

Today, put in remanufactured alternator, and a boneyard fuse panel with integrated control unit. No difference. Replaced all the bulbs except the front turn signal/parking lights--brake lights work, rear turn signals blink very quickly, but when I turn on the parking lights, the third brake light comes on!

Also found out the driver's window motor is running constantly (down) when the switch assembly is plugged in. (I'm guessing it's the switch unit)

Then because it started raining, I noticed that the speedo needle will drop to zero when the wipers start to move, but only in intermittent wiper mode. The needle then immediately goes back to where it's supposed to be, then repeats next wiping cycle

SRS light stays on, and the fuse for it is blown. New fuse blows immediately upon starting.

Hazards don't work, and fuse is blown. New fuse blows immediately.

My first most pressing concern is fixing the weird brake pedal/parking lights issue. Where do these wires/looms/circuits come into proximity to cause this problem? I'd hate to have to cut the whole harness apart.

Please feel free to chime in on any of these issues--all help appreciated. I have to fix this myself as I've been laid off of work and therefore have a very tight budget. Thanks for reading this lengthy post.

grumblemarc

iTrader: (4)

Alternator blew the battery? How does that happen? Also sounds like a lot of hack job wiring has taken place. Sounds like you have some harnesses to replace.

killercd4G63

This is quite strange... i have never heard of such an issue.

What Car is this on?
Is there a swap? or factory setup?

machgo

No hacked up wiring, basically bone stock. 97 civic EX, manual trans, D16Y8. All original except basic maintenance/wear items, about 194,000 miles.

This is actually the second time I've had an alternator cook the battery on this car--the first essentially made the battery explode. I think what happens is the voltage regulator starts putting out way too much voltage and fries the battery. First time nothing bad happened to the car, just the battery was destroyed.

grumblemarc

iTrader: (4)

Well it sounds like your voltage regulator kicked the bucket and took a lot of stuff with it, including the battery. Whatever it blew up more than like won't be fixed by replacing the alternator. Fuses blowing immediately indicates a short in the wiring, in your case, MANY. Start scouting junkyards for replacement harnesses.

gwl

You really need check your wiring especially your chassis ground. Make sure you have all the ground straps hooked up. Look for burnt wire insulation around the area that was smoking.

deschlong

iTrader: (8)

I wouldn't even bother trying to track down the source of each problem. I can buy a whole new wiring harness for a Civic at the wreckers probably for b/w $20-50. In your case, that's exactly what I'd do. You probably have melted and exposed wiring everywhere, so there's risk of fire even if you do resolve half your existing problems. However, I think this solution still does not address the root cause of the problem and really only treats the symptoms.. alternators destroying your battery (twice) and effectively your entire electrical system is not a normal problem.

machgo

I agree it's out of the ordinary. In both cases, alternators were Autozone remans, and Autozone (Duralast) batteries.

Today I managed to get all my turn signals working, and a boneyard under-hood fuse box fixed the hazards blowing their fuse.

Speedo still drops to zero when intermittent wipers start their cycle--I can live with that for now. SRS still blows a fuse when key is turned to on.

Front parking lights still come on when I hit the brake pedal, and the high mount stop light still comes on when I turn on the parking/head lights. Seems those 2 circuits are crossed/in parallel now, feeding off each other. Still trying to track down where the wires run next to each other or share a common connector.

If anyone knows where that spot might be, or can narrow it down, I'd appreciate it.

machgo

Update: After spending quite a bit of time checking the harnesses, pulling the dash out, removing virtually all the interior trim to expose the wiring, it turns out it was a burned out brake light--the inside one on the trunk lid--causing the weird lighting problems. WTF.

Still have the wacky speedo issue and the SRS fuse still blows, but I'm fairly functional.