Luke_CD5

hey everyone , my 1997 honda accord was having problems keeping charge to the battery . i took the alterator out and got it tested and passed . i then got my battery tested and that seemed to be the problem . i got a new battery and had no problems for a day and then after 8 hrs of driving around on and off , it did it again at the end of the night . what else should i do ? thanks

GhostAccord

Check all of your positive and ground connections. Battery, body, fuse box and alternator. Make sure they are free of dirt and oxidation also make sure they are all tight.

Once you have determined that all of the connections are good start looking at continuity for the wiring. If you have good connection and continuity, time to stat looking at the battery and alternator again.

Salient

I'm having a very similar problem.

Salient

I'm having problems with my car keeping electrical power. This just started happening 2 weeks ago. Here's my problem. I drive my car for 30 minutes to 1 hour and then when I stop and turn my car off to run into a store or something, when I come back out the car won't crank. I usually have to get a jump from someone. I have replaced my starter, alternator, battery, battery terminal connecters, and cleaned all my ground and power connections in the last 2 days and still the same problem. I have checked all fuses and made sure all screws and all connections are tight. I know there is a voltage regulator on the alternator but is there an external one somewhere else? When I get back home I hook up a battery charger and it shows my battery at half power like it's just draining as I drive around. I don't have the radio on or anything that uses any extra power. All parts are new and working properly. I've traced all my wires and they all are fine. This is driving me bonkers. Can someone please help me figure this out? Is there something I am missing? My car is a 1995 Honda Accord EX V6 2.7L.

kevinhughes13

You could check for a parasitic drain if you have a multi meter I had a problem like yours but it would take 2-3 days to kill the battery my automatic seatbelts in my 90 ACCORD were draining the battery because they were drawing power when they shouldn't of. Look for Ericthecarguy parasitic drain test YouTube video take it from there and let me know how it goes. Check all of your grounds-connections as well like they said above. Forgot to mention if your drain is a much higher amp then mine was it can kill the battery in a short period of time. BTW a failing alternator may not show until the car is heated up at running temp so check that yourself with a multi meter at the alternator-battery then post back both results.

Salient

OK I got a multimeter and I will check my car tomorrow. I watched that video. It was a very good tutorial video. I've watched many videos by EricTheCarGuy. That dude knows his stuff. He has taught me so much over the past 2 years. Thanks for your help kevinhughes13.

Digitalis

+1 for ETCG

Salient

I checked my car with the multimeter and there appears to be no parasitic drainage. The battery is brand new and the alternator is too. I installed them both at the same time. I installed a brand new starter a day earlier. I have new brass terminals on the battery too. I also installed a brand new ignition coil and a brand new ignition control module.I've cleaned every power wire and ground wire contact point, so those are all free of corrosion. When I test my battery I get 12.6-13.0 volts. My car seems to be cranking and keeping a charge for now which is weird. I don't know if the parts had to break themselves in or if I corrected the problem somehow? I did notice my ignition switch has a light that was staying on non-stop. I just unplugged the wire harness that turned the light off but I'm not sure what that wire harness is for because there are at least 6 wires feeding into it. My car continues to crank and run just fine without that wire harness plugged into it so maybe it's irrelevant. I will continue to study my car for the next few days to see if the symptoms return or continue.

kevinhughes13

Hmm did you check the voltage of the alternator with the car running? I forgot to mention that your belt tension could be off witch has been known to cause like dead spots in the alternator if its too loose or way to tight it can kill the bearing.

holmesnmanny

It looks like the OP is awol so I'm just gonna work on the other posters issue.

You need to let the car completely cool down.

Then start it up so it's idling at 1500 or so and test for voltage with all accessories off and note the voltage. Then turn on the headlights. What is the voltage now? Then turn on the rear defroster. What is the voltage now ? Then turn on the ac. What is the voltage now ?

Post your results.

It's possible if you have an aftermarket alarm, such as a Viper, the starter kill function is malfunctioning. This has happened to me before.

Salient

I've tested the battery while the car is off. I've also tested the alternator through the battery while the car is running too. It shows my battery gaining voltage so it is charging normally. Any car accessories I use whether I use just one or all of them at once do not drain my battery so the alternator is doing it's job.

holmesnmanny, I do have a viper alarm system that I installed in my car and I was starting to suspect the same thing. It does have a starter kill function that uses a relay to kill the car when the viper is armed. What should I do? Should I remove the relay and rewire everything back like it was to disable the kill function? Should I replace the relay? I installed the alarm system so I could possibly remove that function from my car? Any ideas?

holmesnmanny

completely wire out the starter kill .. just put it back to stock .. see if the issue goes away

Salient

I removed the kill function relay, removed all connections relating to that relay and wired the starter wire back like is was originally. My car appears to be cranking normally every time now and my alarm system is still working properly. Thanks for that advice. I thought that could be the problem but I was unaware that kill function relay failures are a common issue with some car alarms. Well, I just spent $400+ on new parts and did $1,000+ worth of labor. I guess the upside of things is that I have new parts.

djkurious

Would it be the starter disable relay (SPDT) that is faulty on the alarm?

holmesnmanny

If you do a search a lot of people have this issue and its mainly with Viper alarms.

Good to have you back on the road.

Salient

Thanks for your help homie.

Luke_CD5

LMAO , MY PROBLEM WAS THE ECU FUSE the entire time .