fOmaNPu

Alright, so I've had my car back for a few days and it runs real nice, it pulls hard and revs high, just what I wanted.


Heres the thing...

My horn never worked. Whoever wired it was on crack, its just a piece of ****. Its tempermental, meaning that occasionally it wants to work, but most often it just doesn't.

So, I'm driving my car and getting off at an exit today and I tap the horn just to see if its one of those rare times that its working, and the car dies on me as I have the clutch down and I'm rolling to a stop.

Really freaks me out, I was kinda scared to drive until I realize the horn was the trigger to the car dying. So later, driving slowly on a road I try again and this time the radio shorts out and pops right back on. Odd, and its pissing me off. Also, when I hit the horn my headlights and dashlights dim.

So then later on, I was sitting in front of a pool hall with my lady in the car just talking with the car running and I decide its time to elave so I turn on the headlights and BOOM, the car dies again. WTF!?

Just trying to play with it more to see whats wrong, I turn on the lights as I hit the horn and the car dies once more. Prolly 1 out of every 3 times I do this the car will cut off.

So, what I'm trying to figure out is if its just the horn wiring or if its something bigger. I was hoping it was the horn until the car cut off after just turning on the lights. It died once at a light when I pressed the horn and lights and wouldn't start up, like the batter was dead. So, I go pop the hood and wiggle the cables a bit and my interior lights come back on.

Since this happened, I removed the horn completely. The car doesn't ACT as weird anymore, but occasionally the radio will short when I tap the brakes, or turn on the lights. I'll get a battery light sometimes for a second or so, the car might die and restart right when I'm driving...

The only code the engine is throwing is for the O2 sensor. I've looked over most grounds. When the car just flat out dies, or I come out in the morning to drive to school, I have no power. If I go wiggle the + battery cable, it works fine, but the cable is tight and the 12v wire ran fine.

Also, sometimes when I'm driving the VTEC won't engage. Restarting the car fixes this, or running to 4th gear VTEC tends to trigger the lower gears later...

Any ideas? Thanks.

fOmaNPu

I've checked most grounds that I can get my eye on. Will running a diagnostic fix this problem? Will getting a new battery fix my power problems? The battery sat for a long time, but I figure it'd be charged up by now...

devonic

you sure its not your alternator?

fOmaNPu

Everyone I've talked to said it wasn't... these sound like Alternator symptoms? How can I check that?

devonic

is it the civic si in your sig? a 92, gotta figure 11 year old car, alternator might not be performing like it used to. sounds like a power drain if it dies when you hit the horn. do you have alot of stuff hooked up in your car(speakers, subs etc..?)

OC 335i

Take out your alternator (make sure you disconnect the battery) and bring it to Kragen, they'll test it for free.

blazinb16

definatly sounds like wiring issues to me, check all the wiring to your horn and radio..i had a very similar problem about 3 weeks ago. it was identical to the symptoms your describing...I turned out that my cd player had shorter out internaly

fOmaNPu

The motor was just installed a few weeks ago. Its an older engine, but Steve from HMO pulled it out of a clip and everything is sposed to be fine, which is why I wanted to rule out the alternator from the start.

I sat around my car and checked grounds for about an hour today; I couldn't see anything that caught my attention. I just tightened most of the grounds. The rubber cap on top of the alternator was wedged in between the cord and the little bracket surround the screw. I loosened the screw and fix the cap, drove it around and everything seemed normal, but most of the symptoms I described are pretty spontaneous.

If the problems persist, I guess I'll go have the alternator checked and have a diagnostic run by a friend that works at the local Dobbs.

PotatoePAPA

Though its possibly that your alternator may be down (which is what I originally thought), I dont think it would be. If the diodes in your alternator go out, then your car is just basicly running on battery juice, meaning your battery would more than likely be dead. But like MEGA EK said....(i didnt know they test it for free) its not that hard to take it out and just TRY and see if its the alt. nothing to lose.


Modified by EG CoUpe at 2:30 PM 4/9/2003

fOmaNPu

Rubber cover on the wire/bolt that goes into the alternator was wedged between that and the metal surface of the alternator. I guess the shop wasn't careful when they were tightening down bolts. Got that out of the way and the car has been running great all day. Now all I need is an o2 sensor and new cat/piping/exhaust to match the header I'm getting and I'll be running 100%. Thanks for the suggestions guys.