PrecisionH23a

Last night I ran power to a Greddy Oil pressure gauge, boost gauge, and a turbo XS dual stage boost controller. I used the 12v switch power wire coming from the radio... where I typically tap my gauges into.

So today I take the car out and run it. 7.6psi with 11.8:1 air fuels and I 22.5 degree's of timing (8.5:1 compression 87mm bore). So unlike the past 3 days I've driven the car around, the temperature starts going up... around 202 degree's. I also notice a check engine light came on... I pulled it with hondalogger - 02 sensor. Cleared the code and then the battery light came on. Then the parking brake light came on. I decided to pull over and then the oil light started to flash. Ok, off goes the engine. The engine then went up to about 211 degree's so I quickly turned the heater on. I checked to make sure the fans were working properly, they were. No signs of a bad headgasket either, the overflow tank was dry.

So after it cooled down I decided to head back to the shop. I left the heater on and for some reason the battery light came back on. I shut the car off while waiting to turn. I cranked it back up then the oil light came back on again. Did the typical pull over routine again. 5 min later, the light is gone and I get home safely with the battery light on and the car wanting to stall at idle.

The plugs showed no signs of detonation. I decided to work backwards and remove the power source from he gauges and boost controller. I took the car back out and beat on it. Everything ran fine and went back to normal.

So my question here is... do you think the gauges and boost controller pulled that much current that it caused the battery to read low? I know from past experience if you leave the plug on the altenator off it will flash the oil light because the battery will not charge... I'm thinking it's all related since the battery was not being allowed to charge fully. Maybe I used a wrong power source from the radio, lol. Looks like I'm just going to tap the gauges into the wideband source. Hopefully it will not pull too much current from that and throw the readings off as well.

Any input here?

093turbo16

iTrader: (2)

i would tap one thing from the radio and then get the other two from the open fuse box spots.

PrecisionH23a

If it happens again I'm going to say the altenator is going bad due to the amount of heat with the downpipe right beside it.

I'm going out for another test drive.

adseguy

That's a strange problem and I can't help you, but I'd like to applaud you and point out the fact that you took the right steps in handling the situation. I know others that would just stare at an Oil light and just drive home wondering what it is instead of pulling over immediately and finding a solution. It seemed like you had to stop and go many times, but I salute you for doing the right thing. Everyone should learn from this

BoostedEG6

it sounds like the altenator to me... I mean since the bat light kept coming on and all the "wierd" lights coming on thats kinda strange to happien just because of where you tapped in at you know?

dustin

the engine wasn't actually overheating, right?

sounds like bad alt or seriously fubared ground somewhere.

PrecisionH23a

I just took the car back out for about a 40 min drive... boosting about 40% of the time. After removing the power wire to the boost controller and gauges the battery light did not come on nor did the oil light. The engine also did not overheat one bit.

Strange stuff.

dustin

Maybe that dual stage thingamagig is grounding out to the car or something, and skewing all sensor readings at the ecu. Or something.

I'm having trouble figuring out how the oil light and parking brake light could come on, considering they are mechanically disconnected from chassis ground though.

PrecisionH23a

Yea... me too.

The oil light will come on if the battery is not charging properly. I found this out when my altenator plug was not plugged in all the way a few years ago... the car ran rough and the oil light flickered.

The dual stage boost controller is supposed to have a chassis ground. I'm going to relocate that as well as the power source. I'll run the power to the gauges after I'm done tuning for more boost.

The thing about the parking brake is very odd as well. I would disengage it and it would still be on. Damn canadian cars.

dustin

Well if the battery is not charging/charged properly, it might miss at idle, causing low RPM and low oil pressure... but I can't see how (electrically) it could cause the oil light to come on if there is sufficient oil pressure to "switch" the oil pressure switch.

Gauge-light gremlins suck to diagnose. The alarm on my civic kept going off...and I couldn't figure out what it was. Then one day, while driving my hatch/trunk light slowly fades on... and then fades out to about half brightness. After taking the whole damn alarm and stuff out of the car, I realized that water was getting in the hatch and was shorting the trunk switches to ground......... hehe.

PrecisionH23a

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dustin &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Well if the battery is not charging/charged properly, it might miss at idle, causing low RPM and low oil pressure... but I can't see how (electrically) it could cause the oil light to come on if there is sufficient oil pressure to "switch" the oil pressure switch.
.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yea... the idle dropped and it started to run really lean. I'm guessing as far as the oil pump goes that it works off of a switch... if the current is being drawn away from somewhere or there is not enough in the complete 'system' that it will eventually read low voltage there as well. Which is my guess as to why it threw an 02 code when I was running it in open loop.

I hate electronic gremlins. I am going to give the boost controller it's own power source and the gauges their own as someone stated previously. I'm about getting sick of working on people's cars, lol.

1QwIkEf

iTrader: (5)

can any one help me with my electronic problem........ https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1292243

PrecisionH23a

No, and dont jack my thread.

So I go to move the car... and the battery light and E-brake light is back from the dead.

****.

When I was messing around with the car earlier, I heard some sort of electronic turn on and off. It's right by the cruise control actuator. This is on an 01 Prelude. I can't seem to find where the noise is coming from because it comes on and off when the car is off every now and then. Very strange stuff?

1QwIkEf

iTrader: (5)

wow dude no need to get fussy any way do you have any way to watch your voltage while your driving the car. one of my car started running like **** because the alt was going bad. but if i rev the car past 3k the battery light goes off

PrecisionH23a

Well I did an extensive search tonight...

It turns out another guy had the SAME problem I am having with his turbo 5th gen Prelude... but the answer was never really given. Everyone said it was the altenator. His car would throw the brake light and battery light. Someone else stated to check the brake fluid level... so I'll be doing that tomorrow morning.

I found another guy with an integra and his battery light would come on and trigger the oil light to flash. He popped in a new altenator and he was good to go.

Let's hope this is the problem. Here are the threads in case you are curious:

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=815563

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1093772

My guess is the hot downpipe did a number on the altenator. Time to wrap the downpipe and fab up a heatshield.

PrecisionH23a

I just got back from advanced auto... altenator is shot and the battery needed to be replaced as well.

Good stuff