luis84one

hello everyone ive spent the last 2 days going through old post trying to find a solution to my problem but i cant find one.

i drive a stock 97 civic ex and it died on me a week ago. it turned out to be the distributor that gave out. i replaced it and it fired up. the following morning i drove the car for about 20 mins then the rpm gauge started to jump up and down and the radio kept turning off and on. i parked the car and i was no longer able to start it again. the battery was dead. the alternator went out...so i though. i bought a new battery to get the car home(it was time for a new one anyway) and replaced the alternator that day. the following day it happened again. so it appears that the battery is not being charged by the alternator. i had the old alternator checked at autozone and its good. i did a continuity test from the positive terminal to the engine block and i didnt find a short. im running out of ideas any help would be appreciated. fyi i do have a CEL 20 if thats of any help.

97ej6dx

20? as an obd2 car it should have a code like P2401 or four numbers after the P the 20 code is for an obd1
but Did you let the new battery go all the way dead? if you do its really bad on the battery to go all the way dead new or not

luis84one

well i got the cel 20 by jumping the ecu and counting the cel flashes, and it was a code 20. the battery did die all the way, i know its bad but i thought i fixed the problem by replacing the alternator but i was wrong. the alternator was good but theres something keeping it from charging the battery

97ej6dx

well when batterys die all the way its not uncommon for them to go bad . I dont know about those codes because I have a code reader for my car that tells me the individual codes.but your battery should be under warrentee i would take it in and get a new one
and if it continues to not charge then it may be a bad charging system

luis84one

no the battery is fine. i got a new battery just to get the car home. the problem is that the charging system is not charging the battery. the alternator is good. the (new) battery was checked and its good. my question is why isnt the alternator charging the battery?? code 20 is electrical load detector i think

delsolproblems

The ELD is part of the underhood fuse box. If it's not working and everything is corrected properly, you'll have to replace the fuse box.

luis84one

i did research that here on honda tech. i kinda got the idea that the eld really had nothing to do with my problem, but imma give it a try today. thanks

Hondatherdm

See whats the voltage drop from alt to the battery, should not be more the .5 volts

bpwrdeg

how many volts is you alt reading out? should be around 14.5v. If not sand off your grounds and see what it does.

luis84one

i found the problem today. im afraid to say it.. it was a fuse i think it went out because of the eld. i replaced both of those today and the battery is charging and the speedometer works now too.. i wouldnt of found the problem without ht thanks everyone