bach

Ok I have a 1996 Honda Accord LX that I did a H22A engine swap and auto to manual conversion into with msd coil, msd sport compact ignition, and OBD I conversion. The car ran fine after I did the engine swap and auto to manual conversion for three + months. But now my car is having serious electrical issues. I replaced my battery, battery cables and had my alternator checked. The alternator is putting out the normal amount of volts and my battery seems grounded correctly. What happens is that it seems that my alternator is not charging my battery and my whole car is running off my battery. I can drive my car for about an hour or two then I notice that my radio turns off and on and my windshield wipers slow down then my tachometer and speedometer drop to zero. My car has never died when I was driving it but my battery always seems really low when I put it on the charger (I take it out of the car to charge it). I checked the fuses also and all of them seem to be fine except for the 7.5 ECU fuse. So I replaced the fuse and it ran ok then It started to do the same thing again. Also now it seems to idel at 2000 rpms with the new battery and cables and I'm not sure what is going on. I did check the belt tension on my alternator also and it is fine to. Please I need some help real bad. Could this be a relay thing or what.

Hondaman56

According to the shop manual, your Voltage Regulator is located within your alternator on your car. Just because the alternator is putting out 12-16V, the voltage regulator determines wheither the battery is getting the charge, and in some cases which components are powered by the alternator vs battery. Swap out the alternator, and see if it solves the problem.

Snoochie Boochies

not a bad idea a bad regulator can sometimes pull down the voltage and not charge

bach

I had already swaped out the alternator to my old one from the f22b2. Unless they both have a bad regulator that could be the problem. I'll just buy a new one to make sure though. But also could relays have anything to due with this before I go and buy a new alternator?

JimBlake

Check the "C" wire on the alternator. I don't have a '96 so I can't tell you wire colors.

When the battery is charged & the ELD says there's not much load, the ECU uses this wire to tell the alternator to shut down. If that wire has worn insulation & it's shorting to ground (intermittently?) then that can shut down the alternator.

bach

What is happening is when I start the car the ECU and Cruise control fuse will blow and I think the ECU reverts back to default settings. (thats why my car ides at 2000 rpms) I think I'll check the C wire and see if it has a short in it because I know I did have to use some electrical tape on it because it did have a small gash in it when I first went through all the wires on the swap. (the one that connects to the front of the alternator right?, just to making sure were on the same page) But if that is the case should I just repair it using the same wire or should I just replace the whole wire? The wire seems like a 12 or 8 guage wire with a thick connector. And I know I keep on asking this, but do relays have anything to do with this and what are relays, where are the relays in a 96 accord?

bach

Oh yeah and my battery charging light has never been on at all though out this whole electrical problem. (Just so I can give good information and receive some correct feedback)

JimBlake

With those other fuses blowing, I'd check all over the wiring for ADDITIONAL places where the wiring is cut thru & shorting. It now sounds like you have more than one problem. If it happened on that one wire... ??

Relays are simply switches that are switched on & off electrically. They're those plastic boxes that plug into the fusebox. They're used when you don't want to bring the high-powered wiring into the cabin. You can use a small switch to energize the relay, then the relay switches the high power circuit on & off. They're probably not your problem, unless you have some plugged into the wrong sockets or something like that.

This might become a real nightmare of checking wire-by-wire to make sure stuff is connected to the proper places. You really need a wiring diagram.

RiceRocketDave

Get a wire diagram FIRST.... Check all your grounds, I have seen a bad ground create some fucked up problems (overheating even). Make 100% sure that all your sensors are in place.

What it sounds like to me is you did the swap. Then as all the wires started settling the ones that were poorly insulated started waring on metal and are now shorting out.

This is not going to be a one hour job either, I would look at every wire in the car making sure that they are all in good shape.

Good Luck

bach

I started taking the harness out from the engine yesterday and found a ground on the throttlebody that might have something to do with it. Most of my wires seem intack and are in good condition.(but I'm not done yet). Also does anyone know how to take the fuel injector harness off the fuel injectors? They have they little metal clips on them but it seems to small to put your hands and even a small flat head screw driver on them. Help with that would be appreciated. I also just wanted to thank everyone who posted also. If I do get the problem fixed it was because of the your guyses postings. And if I do just end up having to take it to the dealer and bite the bullet, then at least I know I tried as hard as I can (probably farther then most would want to trouble shoot).

JimBlake

I think on my injectors, you press that metal wire in towards the plug. Don't pry it outwards.

bach

I found out to take out the injector plugs you have to take the metal clip of totally. But I took out the whole wire harness, checked everything thing, redid the hareness in and out (with a wire diagram, chiltons, haynes) and now it still is doing the same thing. the only thing I can think of that I haven't check is that the alternator (on both alternators) regulator is broken. It still is blowing the ECU/ cruise control fuse (just one fuse) and is ideling around 2000 grand and my battery still doesn't charge. One thing though the fuse didn't start to blow until I got the new battery. I did get a higher battery. 650 I believe but would that make a difference? But if you have any other ideas or comments that would be great other wise to the dealer it goes.....

HondaTechPro

Hmmm.... swapping in an engine that doesn't belong in the car, and modifying the wiring and fuel system to work. And now you have electrical problems? That seems so unlikely as Honda obviously engineered the engines to be interchangable. I don't see how you could have any problems. Not trying to envoke a flaming, but as a tech I see far too many noob's reading a couple of articles on the net and trying to swap engines and heads and transmissions. The results are usually rather unreliable, just drive the car, if you want a fast car.... buy a fast car.

bach

I found out that my secondary O2 sensor was cut in the swap and was grounding out my whole electrical system. And since its on a loop system then it affects everything. But your right about swaps. If you don't know what your doing then don't do it. It saves alot of headaches.