xcoregage

I just fixed the head gasket on my 93 accord and the car will not start without a jump or a battery charger then it will idle fine and have full power for a minute or two then when i give it throttle it will start to bog down and start misfiring , when i slowly give it gas it will start to run thru the whole throttle range then it will start to bog down again ... would a bad alternator cause this because it seems when the fuel pump and injectors and ignition coil put more of a draw on battery and alternator it will start to mess up ? the battery light on dash is lit too btw

gage 93 accord f22a

TheMuffinMan

iTrader: (1)

When turned on does the battery have 14V across the terminals?

Battery light usually means alternator issues.

xcoregage

what do i use to test the 14v ? and i just touch the tester pos to pos and neg to neg on the terminals ?

Atreidies

Multi-meter. You can get them for cheap. HarborFreight has them on sale for $2.99 right now.

xcoregage

if i had it on the right setting pretty sure , i tried two diff settings on the multimeter and it starts around 9v whens car is running then gradually drops from there until the car shuts off...

Atreidies

If you are seeing voltage drop, then your alt is probably dead. Try charging it, then testing it without starting the car to make sure the battery isn't draining on it's own. You will need to test it a few times over a couple hours, but this will save you time and money. Also, make sure the wires on the back of the alt are good/secure.

xcoregage

k i will do this next thanks

accord2nrz

I think its a combination of both, if your car was gradually losing power then minor systems will turn off first. The SRS is usually the first thing to shut down and throw an indicator followed by your tachometer jumping around as its losing power then finally going to zero even though your still moving. At that point you have precious few minutes to get where you can before u lose power completely. Follow what they've reccomended for you above, depending on what type of battery you have a cell can be dead. The alternator merely maintains the charge in your battery so if your batt is weak/dead then the alternator is not going to charge it. and that'd cause what your experiencing.

arielb1

What I finally did, remove the alternator and take to the auto store. They will hook up and determine if it is dead. From my experience, alternators go about 120K miles...best to change them before they die or give problems, honestly.

My alternator gave 19V while truck was on. Once I turned car off, within the hour it dropped from 12V to 9. The bad alt was draining my battery.

accord2nrz

arielb1 I agree that's a great course of action but sometimes not 100%. Story behind this i had mine tested and they said it was good. Turned out my electronics in the vehicle were putting more than the standard load on it and thats what eventually did it in. surprises eh?

ken9

Yes i believe that your alternator give up on you. Got buy a DMM at Wal-mart and set it as D.c and put the Dmm positive lead on the battery positive and the negative lead and negative battery post. It will give you reading which will 12.7 and 14.7 mean your alternator's good and anything below that mean something's wrong. Your battery is the main power to start the vehicle and once it turn the alternator take charge of all the electrical.

xcoregage

i cleaned my batt terminals , they were pretty crusty .. and they were also really loose , guess my uncle didn't tighten them very well when i had him put batt back in ... car is still doing the same thing , i found a tested good alternator at a u-pick scrapyard in hialeah for $10 .. seems like it might be worth it to pick it up and replace the alt cause i think u guys have figured it out that it really is the alt...

Atreidies

$10 isn't bad, but how long is that one going to last? who knows. Loose terminals can keep the alt from charging the battery. Get it started and see if it is good since tightening them.

xcoregage

yea god only knows how long it would last but ur right i should prob check it again since tightening them

cctgene

If I understand you correctly, your electrical problems started after the head gasket was replaced. It may be a just a coincidence that your alternator and/or battery went bad in-conjunction with the head gasket installation, but I would be suspicious. As long as your lights are not on, with a good battery, your car ought to start and run for extended period of time even if your alternator is not hooked up. With that being said, the first thing I would do, before I replaced the alternator, would be to remove the battery and take it to an auto store and have it tested. Just because your battery charger reflects that you have 12 volts does not mean its good under load. It may very well be that you have a bad alternator, but like I said, I would make damn sure that I eliminated the battery as the cause of my problems before I replaced it!

For what it's worth

Atreidies

Any update?

kidcool1977

how to test an alternator.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bzz7P3qNHcE

xcoregage

ok here an update , the battery is three year free replacement so i'm bringing it back and getting a new one and i'm gonna replace the alternator cause i'm almost certain thats what the prob is now after tightening the terminals and everything i've tested

accord2nrz

Best of luck on it, Keep us posted