turbomonkeyexpress

last night, when i pulled into my drive way, i was putting up my windows and sunroof, simultaneously, hitting the breaks, and the radio and AC were on... and my car almost died.
it's been acting funny for a while now and i dont know what the problem is. basically, when ever i use parts of the electrical system, the lights act funny (only really noticable at night) and after it almost died once, it seemed to build up a resistance to it. ive gone over many ideas in my head, one of wich could be a poor battery, but ive had autozone and pepboys test it and they say it's fine.. a local honda dealer wanted to tell me it was bad, and that they wanted 120$ to change it.. (not covered in my hondacare waranty) ive been told it was the alternator, but autozone also did a check on this and they said it seems to be working tip-top. lastly, ive considered grounding problems, as another civic owner told me that he needed to replace his. If any of you have any ideas as to what's going on, Please, chime in, i really need to get this fixed. Thankyou-

civic-si-2000

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by turbomonkeyexpress &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">last night, when i pulled into my drive way, i was putting up my windows and sunroof, simultaneously, hitting the breaks, and the radio and AC were on... and my car almost died.
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by doing this you are putting a heavy load on your charging system. I'm sure you know this but the alternator runs your car while its driving. I would get a second opinion on your alternator it could have a dirty stator or worn brushes. also if you have access to a dmm you can check the output of the alternator by measuring voltage at the battery while the car is running. It should be 13.2-14.5. Anything over 15.5 is bad and means your killing your battery. Also hook the dmm to the battery and test for A/C voltage. If its over half a volt than your diodes are bad in the alternator. You can pick up a cheap dmm ( digital multi-meter) from autozone for around $40 bucks . It is a great tool. Good luck.

turbomonkeyexpress

well a DMM is a tool i probably should already have.. so i guess i need to get myself one. I know it's a heavy load, but really should that tax it enough to almost stall the car? Secondly, im pretty new to all this electrical stuff, where abouts would i be hooking up the DMM to check the A/C voltage? could it possibly be a grouding issue?

p.s. The guy at the dealership told me my battery was garbage... and that when they tested it, they found a "hot spot" on the batt. post.. and this is causing intermittant problems... a friend told me that a dealership will say this so they can make some money off a transaction, and then when it dosent work still, they'll take it back and really fix the problem (so they make some money off a waranteed' car)

civic-si-2000

your diodes change your alternators a/c voltage to d/c voltage. your checking to see if they are working so the easiest way is to hook the test leads to the battery. anything over .5 volts is bad.

To check the ground find the ground for your battery and body control functions. Im not sure where the body control grounds are but a book will have them. Anyways check for corrosion around the terminals and clean if needed. hook your black dmm lead to a good ground somewhere on the car. then hook the red one to the ground. If you have Dc voltage at the ground over .05 volts then you have a bad ground. clean and reground the system and check again. If this doesn't fix the problem and your getting high voltage replace the wire. Most of electrical failures are bad grounds. If you didn't know the symbols this _
..
V is DC voltage and AC voltage will have a sqiggly line over a V.

turbomonkeyexpress

So, say it's a grounding problem, how would i go about fixing this? i assume shut the car off, an unbolt right?
do i have anything to worry about getting zapped?

civic-si-2000

not if your ground cable to the battery is disconnected you wont get zapped. but remember this very important. DO NOT DO NOT!!!!! PUT THE DMM ON THE OHMS SETTING!!!!! THIS IS CHECKING RESISTANCE IN THE WIRE BY INDUCING VOLTAGE TO THE CIRCUIT. YOU WILL FRY AND DESTROY YOUR ECM IF YOU DO THIS ON ANY GROUND. the ohms symbol looks like a rainbow with straight legs on each side. Please dont forget this.

If the wire is bad i.e. still getting high voltage. replace it with a new one. soldering is the best way but crimping will do.
good luck i hope i helped you.

turbomonkeyexpress

well, the dealership i baught the car from says it's 99% the alternator, and i can trust these guys, the salesman is a family friend and they dont BS me with idiot speak..