4g4dcruisin

weird problem, 90 sedan with d16a6 is having some weird electrical issues. i must have a ground problem somewhere im assuming.

so now when i have the cd player on, it shuts off when i press on the brake pedal...obviously it has to do with the rear brake lights but i have no idea why.

anyone had this problem before?

sanimalp

Well, its not the brake pedal, but here goes.. If your clutch switch is broken, it may cause the switch to ground out on the clutch pedal, which is attached to the rack that holds your brake pedal.. but that is a long shot.

I know i have seen this problem before, but can't remember the solution, and the clutch switch grounding problem is the only one that comes to mind ATM.

nihad

iTrader: (2)

Could be electrical load detector... I think when mine was bad you would push the brake and the cluster would get a surge of power or something like this.. engine fues box if you need one let me know..

4g4dcruisin

alright update...

i tested the load detector and it is NOT faulty.

i got a new alternator and swapped out my battery for an 03 accord battery, just to see if i needed a new battery or not. im still having the same problem like loss of electronics inside the car when i press my brake pedal, turn on the radio, put the windows up and down, head lights on and off.

eveytime i use something electrical, something else turns off...a good example is if i turn on my highbeams, i lose the radio...turn OFF the highbeams and radio comes back on.

i've tested this "new" alternator and its only putting out about 9v, i was told by autozone that my alternator should be putting out somewhere around 14v...anyone verify this?

so as of right now it seems im not getting enough juice in to power all of the electronics in the car, since everything is power this is a big problem.

91sedan_kid

wish i could help.. bump for view. GL.

4g4dcruisin

alright well im leaning towards bad alternator, i've looked at dozens of "alternator" related topics here on HT. people that have had jumpy needles, radio problems, lights dimming, loss of power, etc..have all replaced their alternators and been on there way.

im a little concerned tho because some people have had to replace either their ECU or dizzy.

kamui427

as weird as this may sound i might have a answer for you. on my old crx if i turned any eletronic stuff on drawing power my radio cut out. i checked everything but my cd player wiring was bad so i had to replace it and it quit. long shot but hey u never know.

4g4dcruisin

i actually just re-wired my stereo a few days ago when all these problems first started. i was NOT using the chassis ground provided in the stereo harness, i grounded directly to the metal framing behind the dash, i also have my constant power wire(yellow) going directly to my battery thru the firewall.

the stereo only cuts out when other power is being used, i have the red battery light on my dash which means "charging system malfunction", either overcharging or undercharging. in my case, the alternator is only putting out 8-9v when the car is running.

so im sure its my alternator, crappy reman, so im having my gf get a jump, drive the car back to the alternator place and have him test it in the car. i have a year warranty so if its bad i'll pop that **** out and get another.

kamui427

oh ok well that rules that out lol. hopefully its ur alternator

4g4dcruisin

i've looked at soooo many threads regarding power loss. almost everyone resulted in new alternator. im just pissed that im pretty sure i got rid of a good alternator when i picked up this new piece of crap.

nihad

iTrader: (2)

Yeh i have had all kinds of electrical issues before... When my eld went bad and i couldnt figure it out i ended up pulling the whole harness out and connecting it all out side and then it worked fine.. But i had another electrical issue before the eld. Also some kind of weird buzzing and what not related to the brake pedal.. I figured it was grounds now it works great.. This kind of **** could drive some one crazy and end up scraping their car. I would never do that tho... Ha

4g4dcruisin

i checked the ELD per the helms manual...everything tested correctly on that end. i keep hearing about checking the grounds...but which ones!!

nihad

iTrader: (2)

There are two grounds on the front pillers around the head light area right behind them its a bunch of grounds going in to one on both sides and then 2 grounds under the dash also one on each side its around the carpet line just look and the one on the thermostat Just un bolt them and clean and re install the bolt

4g4dcruisin

alright so you say on both sides of the dash, meaning driver and passenger side? and headlights, driver and passenger side?

4g4dcruisin

interesting problem, temp needle jumps up to H whenever i turn on head lights, actually it move up based on how much power i use inside the car haha.

good thing is that i got the alternator prob fixed, the dudes at the shop actually put in a new alternator for free! it was a "better" quality alt i guess but it works fine!

Default_Name

Verifying alternator should put out 13-14 volts. My car was doing this when there was a bad relay that was sucking power when the car wasn't on. The combination of it sucking power plus the dead battery was too much even for the alternator, so when i turned on my fogs, my radio turned off, and when i turned on the headlights, the check engine light came on. I had done some custom wiring and the relay had gotten wet. I just pulled the inline fuse to interrupt the juice sucking the relay was doing. Remember, you should be able to start the car, and disconnect the battery and have the car stay on.

4g4dcruisin

what relay are you talking about?

i still have some MINOR issues even with the new alt...like my windows go up slower than they did before i had these issues, my radio turns off SOMETIMES when i put my highbeams on.

the funnies of the problems is my temp gauge fluctuates based on how much power i am using, its frickin crazy cuz i know im not running hot. i may have some sort of wiring issue still, i have an aftermarket alarm and there is a mess under the dash, sometimes i kick piecing of wiring on accident.

Default_Name

It was a pilot relay for some aftermarket walmart fog lights i installed. the relay got wet and so it would draw power even when the switch to activate the relay was off. so it drained my battery. i just took out the fuse from the battery so i couldn't draw power.

4g4dcruisin

hmm, i have my new alternator and it is "charging" the battery but i still have a power draw.

when i turn on my high beams my radio shuts off, and stuff starts dimming. i may sound dumb for saying this, but i havent removed the radio and see if that solves the problem. that should have been the first thing i did but oh well. ill take it out tonite and make sure the wiring is wrapped up and see what happens.

what about the ELD?

Default_Name

yea with my situation, the alternator was good, putting out 13.8 volts. When i was driving, i turned on the fogs, and radio cut out. i turned on the headlights, and the engine light came on (so it turned off the headlights, quick!). when i got home and opened the door, the dome light was flickering (because it was drawing off the alternator, and not the battery, which was dead from the bad relay). When it was in idle, the fogs would come on, i waited a bit, then turned the headlights on, they came on, then waited, and hit the high beams, and it killed the car.. but if you loosen the negative cable on the battery, start the car, then take off that cable completely, the car should keep running..

4g4dcruisin

u can fry your alternator like that.

4g4dcruisin

oh hey u know what? the little red LED on the ecu is blinking all the time...i think it blinks 8 times then turn off, then 8 times again.

4g4dcruisin

update...

i was driving to work today (40miles highway driving). when im goin in 5th gear i have full power and brightness i guess cuz the alt is fully charging. as soon as traffic hits i start to get the dimming action, slow windows, radio cutting out when highbeams are on.

im starting to get pissed cuz i have no clue whats going on, on top of that i was almost bogging out between 3-4000rpm.

sanimalp

I have a hard time believing that your alternator is still bad, but it sound like you either have a huge amp draw (short? huge stereo? ) somewhere that your Alternator just can't keep up with except at highway speed, or another bad alternator.

when you said you installed a new stereo, are we talking just a new deck with stock speakers? or 5x 1 kilowatt amps and 10x 20" subs? You may look at buying a galvinometer to determine what the amp draw is when the car is running at idle with the high beams and radio and all that on.. because you are loosing a huge amount of amperage somewhere if your alternator IS in fact good and still can't keep up with demand.

4g4dcruisin

the alternator is "charging" the battery...but doesnt read ~14v at idle, more like ~12v.

i have NO clue where to look for the short, i checked the brake light wiring, headlighs, corner lights, under the dash, alternator lead wire (white wire). could the combonation switch be bad? since everything happens when im using headlights or highbeams, **** even blinkers make my tach jump with the blinking of the green led!!

the stereo is nothing special, i've had it in my car for a while now. i had to disconnect the wiring recently to put in my gsr console but i had this problem BEFORE i unhooked the radio.

speakers are stock size, well rear deck speakers are 6x9 but i've had them in for a while now with no draw problems, i even unplugged them last nite to see if they were an issue and they werent.

one more thing i can check is disconnecting the radio all together and driving the car to see what happens...another thing is that i wired up the cooling fan to be on at all times with the car running. i did this because the fan switch didnt work, (need new thermo).

after i do that, im gonna go to pick a part 50% OFF EVERYTHING THIS WEEKEND IN ONTARIO for anyone who cares. im gonna pick up an underhook fuse box so that way i'll have a "new" electric load detector. i know my WIRING to the ELD is good but i dont know how to test the actual ELD unit.

next step wil be new coil/dizzy depending on if i can find a good dizzy for cheap or not...then possibly new ECU.