egcivic

since i have got my car.. about a year and a half
and i have been through 4 alternators and im gonna be on my fifth
i figured before that the alternators were bad.. but this is kidna rediculous
when i got my car i had the battery light on but i replaced the alternator and it went away
then my alternators lasted about a few months a peice and then they just die
my interior lights are dim but that seems to happen in a lot of civics
so i wasnt worried..

my question is why does my car eat through alternators?

SLO Sol

do you have alot of accessorys. you could have faulty wiring too.

JDM-97CX

Are they autozone alternators?

JDMlyfestyle

did you have to rewire your Alternator? or was it plug and play?

Do you have alot of accessories?

where did you buy the alternator from

egcivic

no my car is completely stock
doesnt even have a radio
i got them all off h-t used
and i thought it might be because they are used but this is a lotta dead alternators
for not that long of a period of time
and no rewiring

JDMlyfestyle

id just dish out the cash and buy a new one and be sure it has a warranty

Sleepy_Red_hatch

used alternators......wouldent trust them

JDMlyfestyle

i hardly ever trust used parts cause inever know how to person abused them

old man neri

maybe a short that is only connected when the engine is "on" i.e. your alternator would be doing about 110% all the time. Try sticking a amperemeter on it when the engine is running and see how much it draws.

good luck.

Crx Jimmy

bring it to and alternator shop they will tell you whats wrong with it and bring your old ones as well if they are all failing from the same problem it might be your car, also a shop can just replace the voltage regulator or diode rectifiers if thats all that is bad

DA_driver

If you have access to a VAT-40, like if you have a friend in a dealership or shop somewhere, use it instead of an ammeter. It will show you everything you will ever need to know about what your alternator is doing, and more. If you have to use an ammeter on an alternator, make sure you know what you are doing, or have a friend that does. Other wise you could possibly fry your alternator, your voltage regulator, or even a major computer component. Because alternators use diodes so that you don't get alternating currents (AC voltage) through your electrical components. That can lead to a lot of problems for your circuitry. If you need some specific information on how to use the ammeter, let me know, I can walk you through it step by step later if you need. Good luck!

RaYnE

buy a new one man, im sure the money on the used ones woulda got you a new one

Tad

nah he's onto his 5th,
he needs to find the problem before shelling 2-300 out for a new alternator..

sheesh..

dohcVTECeg2

you sure you dont need a new battery

egcivic

i was thinking that it was a short in my wiring or something also...
but i am not sure..
and i dunno but does a bad battery fry an alternator?
and as of currently my alternator is dead so there is no use testing it
but when i get a new one (thinking of going with a warrantied one becuase considering the history of alternators with my car it will die soon) i do want to fix the problem so i would test the alternator with an ammeter becuase i dont have a freind that would have access to a vat-40, and then test all my wiring and grounds?
i was thinking this was what i needed to do.. but i wanted to just make sure before i went ahead and went throught everything

Luserkid

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dohcVTECeg2 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">you sure you dont need a new battery</TD></TR></TABLE>

Exactly, sounds like youve been changing out the wrong part. If your powering a somewhat dead batt, then it will kill out you alts. Replace the batt.

alleyezonme

yea but wouldn't he know if he had a bad battery? Like starting problems and everything. I know I sit there sometimes with the engine off and just listen to the radio on lunch break and stuff... A bad batt. couldn't do that and then be able to start too could it? I would say check your grounds too.

built562

you definatly have a wriring issue.

unless you are just buying jacked up alternators, why else would someone sell an alternator becasue they needed a new one so they sold you the old one that needed replacing.

at least shell out the money for a refurbished one that has a year warrenty so you can get another one if it dies.

take it to a shop and get a charging systems check and they can tell you how much current the alt. is drawing and how much its putting out

egcivic

yea i figure that is the best way to go right now
and i think im going to get a warrantied one tommorow
and i never thought of buying used that way but yea
im gonna go get a new one that start looking at wiring when its not wet and cold
and is there a certain voltage or anything the battery is supposed to be putting out so i can test it?

Tad

do this first off man.

go to ur local electronics store(like frys or radioshack) and get a multimeter.
then go check the voltage on the battery with the car off. if its alot lower than 12, then ur batt is bad.
then check the voltage at the batt with the car running at different times.
if you see it spiking severely high, like 15+ volts,
then ur alt is probably overworking itself for some reason.

multimeters are definetely very handy to have, it's a good idea to get one, you'll find uses for it later on for who knows what! (at the very least they can tell u how much life any battery has in it, haha).

egcivic

yea my dad has a pretti godo multimeter i think.. well regardless its a multimeter
and i checked the battery with the car on and off a few months ago
and it was liek around 12.7 with it off and aroudn 14 sumthin with it on
so it seemed about right
so i wasnt worried, but my alternator always jus seems to crap out on me
and i jsu changed it for a brand new one warranty and all
so i guess ill check it now that the car is running
it doesnt seem liek i have a bad battery becasue even after the alternator died and i was driving it home on the battery
it still started up without a jump after the new alternator was in
but ill go ahead and check the voltage again
im not srue but i beleive its supposed to be high 12's with it off and high 14's with it on?

littleredcivic

standard is 12.5 off, 13.8 - 14.4 with no load while engine is running at 2000 rpm. while engine is idle, the voltage should not drop under 12.5 with no load. a bad battery, ecu, grounds, shorts, will kill an alt.

egcivic

thx i jus got it in and was about to check.. and now my engine crapped out..

littleredcivic

sorry dude. you are not doing well with this car right now...