dividedas1

i have a 95 dx. stock engine blah blah. My battery light comes on while driving. Its not on all the time, but when i start to reach the top of my gear it will dimmly light up and then brightly light up, when i shift to a higher gear the light goes away. So basically if i don't come within 5mph of where my red line is the light never comes on.

Im not sure if this is related but at the same time i noticed my car was overheating, but then cooling off with out even pulling over and stopping. I found a leak on my radiator, and no coolant in my system. I filled her up put some rad. leak stopper in it and now the car is staying cool and it seems like the light isn't coming on as easily now.

Sorry if this is a newb question but are the 2 related in anyway. If not what could be causing my check engine light. I checked all my belts and they all appear to be in good shape, nice and tight. I haven't checked the alternator or the battery yet, but i will more then likely do that today. I just want to hear some opinions on the situation. Thank you

Update. Since putting in the leak stopper and refilling the radiator i haven't seen the battery light yet. I am testing the alternator tomorrow, im just confused what the electrical system has to do with the cooling system

vega66

Umm maybe a alternator or the bat?

philosofy1

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dividedas1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i have a 95 dx. stock engine blah blah. My battery light comes on while driving. Its not on all the time, but when i start to reach the top of my gear it will dimmly light up and then brightly light up, when i shift to a higher gear the light goes away. So basically if i don't come within 5mph of where my red line is the light never comes on.

Im not sure if this is related but at the same time i noticed my car was overheating, but then cooling off with out even pulling over and stopping. I found a leak on my radiator, and no coolant in my system. I filled her up put some rad. leak stopper in it and now the car is staying cool and it seems like the light isn't coming on as easily now.

Sorry if this is a newb question but are the 2 related in anyway. If not what could be causing my check engine light. I checked all my belts and they all appear to be in good shape, nice and tight. I haven't checked the alternator or the battery yet, but i will more then likely do that today. I just want to hear some opinions on the situation. Thank you

Update. Since putting in the leak stopper and refilling the radiator i haven't seen the battery light yet. I am testing the alternator tomorrow, im just confused what the electrical system has to do with the cooling system
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speaking through my experience, and it's happened twice with hondas. when the battery light flickers like that, chances are your alternator is about to go out.
but this is just the bad luck i have. i would have both the battery and alternator tested. any parts store can do it, just drive up, they walk out, and bam, test is done.

and for your coolant question, no they do not go hand and hand. it's a coincident that the light was flickering when you were overheating. i personally don't like quick fixes like leak stoppers. get the radiator fixed or replaced asap.

Brick Top

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dividedas1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> I haven't checked the alternator or the battery yet, but i will more then likely do that today. I just want to hear some opinions on the situation. Thank you

Update. Since putting in the leak stopper and refilling the radiator i haven't seen the battery light yet. I am testing the alternator tomorrow, im just confused what the electrical system has to do with the cooling system
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check the two first. i'm sure the cooling system has nothing to do with the electrical system. maybe if it was leaking on a connection somewhere. its probably a coincidence.

edit: philosofy beat me to it within a few seconds

dividedas1

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by philosofy1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> i personally don't like quick fixes like leak stoppers. get the radiator fixed or replaced asap.</TD></TR></TABLE>

im not such a big fan either but its my dd, and its about to get painted this weekend and probally swapped out pretty soon. I figured i was going to need a new radiator but if the leak stopper can hold it for a few weeks i'd be happy.

I didnt think that the two problems had anything to do with each other either. I just thought it was odd that the light would do that and now today i havent seen that light even try to come on once.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Brick Top &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">check the two first. i'm sure the cooling system has nothing to do with the electrical system. maybe if it was leaking on a connection somewhere. its probably a coincidence.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Thats a good thought too...i was thinking it might of even gotten on a belt or somthing but the radiator is leaking more down in the corner on the transmission side of things in the engine bay so i dont really see how that would be possible

thanks for the speedy responses im checking this on my lunch break

dividedas1

so basically i had Advanced Auto Parts test my alternator and my battery. Apparently they said my alternator was good and my battery was bad. I replaced the battery and the battery light didnt come on right away. But within 20 minutes the battery light was coming back on...anyone else have any ideas????

philosofy1

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dividedas1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">so basically i had Advanced Auto Parts test my alternator and my battery. Apparently they said my alternator was good and my battery was bad. I replaced the battery and the battery light didnt come on right away. But within 20 minutes the battery light was coming back on...anyone else have any ideas????

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it's like i said, your alternator is probably going bad. you can wait for it to crap on you or you can take it out before that.

but let me advise you, honda alternators are a pain to replace.

dividedas1

ya i have an apt. with the shop that does the work to my car to check the alternator. when i went to advanced auto parts it really didnt seem like they even knew how to use their tester. lol i told them i wanted to test the alt. and they did all their stuff and the guy was like your starter is good. i kinda laughed and was like "i hope so i had to start my car like 10 times for you to run this test, so what about the alt." thank you everyone for your help

philosofy1

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dividedas1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">ya i have an apt. with the shop that does the work to my car to check the alternator. when i went to advanced auto parts it really didnt seem like they even knew how to use their tester. lol i told them i wanted to test the alt. and they did all their stuff and the guy was like your starter is good. i kinda laughed and was like "i hope so i had to start my car like 10 times for you to run this test, so what about the alt." thank you everyone for your help</TD></TR></TABLE>

yeah sometimes you find people like that at the stores. should have gone to another one and got a second opinion.

crazyguy

u can take the alternator off by yourself and bring it to autozoe or any auto parts store to have them test for u for free.and the batter light came on to me before too, due to alternator not charging the battery.

jmucivicsi

Yes def. your altenator, I had the same light on..Also you may want to check your power wire which connects to the top of your altenator onto a stud..My connection to that was corroded and made bad connection..Just a possible solution since the light is not consistent.

philosofy1

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by crazyguy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">u can take the alternator off by yourself and bring it to autozoe or any auto parts store to have them test for u for free.and the batter light came on to me before too, due to alternator not charging the battery.</TD></TR></TABLE>

take no offense with what i'm about to say, but you never replaced a alternator on a honda have you? i wouldn't give advice if you have never done it. honda alternators are a bitch to replace (atleast on the civic's and accords i have worked on). it consist of dropping the axle and all that comes with it just to get a stupid alternator out, and even once you have unbolted it, you have a hair line passage to pull it out from under the car.

the easiest and less time consuming way to test the alternator is while it is still in the car (atleast for honda). unfortunately the OP went to a shop where they didn't know what the hell they were doing.

dividedas1

actually the shop i took it took found a bad connection on the positive for the battery. And after they replaced that the alternator tested bad. They didnt even have to drop the axle or anything. It took a little under an hour and that is because there was a locked up bolt. So thank you philosfy1. You were much help.

ekans

same thing happened to me.after changing the battery and altenator,it happened again!come to find out it was my fuse.check your fuse!!!

crazyguy

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by philosofy1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

take no offense with what i'm about to say, but you never replaced a alternator on a honda have you? i wouldn't give advice if you have never done it. honda alternators are a bitch to replace (atleast on the civic's and accords i have worked on). it consist of dropping the axle and all that comes with it just to get a stupid alternator out, and even once you have unbolted it, you have a hair line passage to pull it out from under the car.

the easiest and less time consuming way to test the alternator is while it is still in the car (atleast for honda). unfortunately the OP went to a shop where they didn't know what the hell they were doing.</TD></TR></TABLE>
hi dude. i have replaced a few alternators for hondas and i replaced my eg civic's a few weeks ago after i swapped the b16a engine and tranny. u dont have the drop the axle..what i did is ..i jacked up the car and took of driver side front wheel.. unscrewed the nut that holding the lower part of alternator and unbolted the upper nut and carefully dropped it from between down pipe and axle..and vise vera for a new one..took me less than 30 mins to do the job.cause i was timing it..

philosofy1

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by crazyguy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
hi dude. i have replaced a few alternators for hondas and i replaced my eg civic's a few weeks ago after i swapped the b16a engine and tranny. u dont have the drop the axle..what i did is ..i jacked up the car and took of driver side front wheel.. unscrewed the nut that holding the lower part of alternator and unbolted the upper nut and carefully dropped it from between down pipe and axle..and vise vera for a new one..took me less than 30 mins to do the job.cause i was timing it.. </TD></TR></TABLE>

hmmm...my repair manual says to remove the axle, which i had to do for my accord. on my b16 civic, i had to unbolt the brake M/C from the booster, and unbolt the bracket from the alternator and motor. it's a pain, alot easier to hook up the tester at the parts store. if you know how to test it with the car running and a voltage meter, that helps too.

oh, and sorry for me being an *** earlier, kids driving me crazy.

crazyguy

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by philosofy1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

hmmm...my repair manual says to remove the axle, which i had to do for my accord. on my b16 civic, i had to unbolt the brake M/C from the booster, and unbolt the bracket from the alternator and motor. it's a pain, alot easier to hook up the tester at the parts store. if you know how to test it with the car running and a voltage meter, that helps too.

oh, and sorry for me being an *** earlier, kids driving me crazy.</TD></TR></TABLE>
u are not being an ***.. u are quite helpful at this forum.. u are a knowledgable man in honda cars.

philosofy1

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by crazyguy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
u are not being an ***.. u are quite helpful at this forum.. u are a knowledgable man in honda cars. </TD></TR></TABLE>

thanks for the compliment. it's rare to see anyone appreciate what we do on here.

crazyguy