tonyskala

I am blown away. I have been struggling with this for 2 weeks.

I have a 2001 Honda Civic GX. I was driving one day and lights started illuminating on dash, radio cut out and car died.

Replaced the battery and the car ran for about 3 days with no issue and this time I noticed the battery light on the instrument cluster illuminate.

So I bought a new Alternator, Installed it with new belts. The light on the instrument cluster with the batter indicator is still illuminating.

So I returned the Alternator got another one and it is doing the same thing.

None of the fuses in the engine compartment are blown. I checked the fuse under the dash that is for the alternator it was good and I replaced it anyway. The electrical system still does not charge.

So I hooked up voltmeter to the battery. It is like 10 volts. The car starts and will run for a while. But the system does not charge. So I tested the large lug on the starter. It is outputting more than 14 volts. The cable that connects to the large lug on the alternator does not have a load on it. It is at zero. So I thought this wire was supposed to be connected to my battery through the internal wires of my car. But nothing.

When I connected the battery it was just finger tight during this testing. But there is no load or power on that single cable attaching to the lug from the car. Voltmeter says 14 volts when I hook up to the lug and ground on the car. But on the batter it is less than 10.

It does not appear any fuses are blown I checked everyone of them. They are tight in their housings and not loose.

Does anyone have any ideas? I am about to push this thing off a cliff. There is no crazy stereo equipment in the car. I have a run of the mill double din radio that has a dvd player gps and Bluetooth. There is a small camera in the car in the windshield that operates off acc power to record my driving. That is it. Car is bone stock.

Anyone have any ideas, What is the ELD thing I am reading about? I am getting one tonight for like 30 dollars but that is just about he last thing I would know to try.

Please someone help me.........

holmesnmanny

Did you check the big 90a fuse in the engine box fuse assembly? It's likely blown. It might be slightly different than 90a but it will be similar in amperage.

tonyskala

I have a 2001 Honda Civic GX

I was driving one day and the lights on the instrument panel started to flicker. Then the radio cut out and then the car went on for 10 miles and it died as well. Flashers did not work, nothing.. nada worked.

Replaced the battery and went along my merry way. 4 days later the same thing happened. So I hooked up volt meter to battery, and then to the alternator.. and was not getting any charge.

I then replaced the alternator. Alternator did test bad at the Pep Boys here. Put alternator in and got car running, but the battery is still not charging.

I checked all the fuses. There is a main fuse under the hood. 2 of them actually. Both were good. Checked fuses under the steering wheel. All were good. Only light illuminating was the battery light. No codes were being thrown.

Replaced the ELD in the fuse box under the hood. Part was 32 dollars at Pep Boys. No change in behavior, still not charging.

So hooked up voltmeter to alternator again. This time I was getting no output power from the lead coming off the pole. But when I revved the motor the voltage suddenly came on and increased. This threw me for a loop. It looks like the car and the ELD do not always allow the Alternator to charge. This is in order to save gas mileage. But I was about to pull it out again until I noticed the voltage suddenly jump. So if you are testing and dont immediately get a voltage increase you might have to wait a few min and turn on some lights or AC or something to draw a load to get the sensor to tell the alternator to start putting out voltage.

So I then started testing the wires. I noticed that the lead coming from the car to the alternator pole did not have any load on it when disconnected from the pole. I ran a 8 gauge wire to the positive terminal of the battery to the pole on the alternator. The voltmeter registered 14 volts and the batter was charging. This led me to believe the wire coming from the car to the alternator had grounded out or had a break in it.

So I have a 12 volt tester that has a needle point on it. I pulled the loom off and stuck the pin into the wire that I traced back to the battery. I probed it in 3 locations and each time there was a load on the wire. Just not at the connector at the alternator. The most obvious place to check was the last place I looked. The connector covered by the rubber boot is ridged and appears very sturdy and I just never thought it would have disconnected or broken there. It was corroded and in fact broke.

I then stripped the wire back and bought a replacement terminal and crimped it to the wire. Hooked it up to the pole on the alternator and it did start charging.

The reason I am writing this is because I did not completely understand the voltmeter and how to use it. It is probably the best tool you can have tracing down electrical issues.