jman30513

ok this morning i went to crank my car.....DEAD....and nothing was left on
(it was a cold morning)
so i rolled it off and cranked it....ran fine....drove it for an hour and turned it off....DEAD...i get no lights on the dash for the battery or alternator
i take it to auto zone...leaving it running...and they check it.....12.45 volts at the battery at idle...diagnosed as a bad alternator
i go home and take it off and take it to a shop....they tell me the alternator is good at a 60 amp load...IM DYING HERE!!!
i go home and put it back on and charge the battery
cranks fine but still 12.45 volts at the battery and alternator
i have noticed my light going a crap load brighter then dimming; dash lights and headlamps
i dont know what to do
help
jman

alotawatts

How many miles on the car- Civic ? My 97 Civic alternator just went bad at about 77.5 k miles.....I was surprised. My GM car alternators usually have gone bad well before 100k miles but I thought the Honda would would go at least 100k. How old is the battery ?
Dimming lights etc. usually indicates alternator is kaput.

BatuKing

if your only getting 12.45 volts at the battery and alt then I have to say your voltage regulator or the alternator its self is bad. just replace it.

nocturnaldragon

If it ran fine then its your battery, The alternator gives the car power while running Thats it nothing else the battery only gives power during start up. Now the battery can power the car while running but only for a SHORT time 10-20min. Now it sounds like your battery because if it runs fine to me that rulles out the alternator and the lights could be explained by the alternator having to put out excessive voltage and amps in an attempt to charge a weak battery. Now when you measured the voltage at the battery that dosent tell me anything, it can have 12 volts all day long and never start your car. You need to know how many AMPS it has. Amps will start the car not the voltage. Theres no easy way to check that unless you have an amp probe that goes around your battery cable. If you do let me know and ill let you know how to check everything out Starter and battery. But imo ever so long winded its your BATTERY replace it.

jman30513

it was a very cold morning here yesterday...well 30 degrees
would a bad battery freeze and drain it?

just wondering

i thought an alternator was supposed to put out like 14 volts while idling?
lemme know more
also i have a funky idle now....goes high then back down to normal
jman

vtec94civic

bump cause i'm having the same problem with my car. i'll drive for an hour then turn it off to get some gass and it won't crank. then when i get it started it again it won't do it for like another couple of days. then time to time when the car is idiling the lights will go dim until i rev the car. i think that more than likely its my alternator, but then it only does it ocassionally so it could also be my battery that is about to take a ****. just want to see what your problem was.

BatuKing

battery thats been maintained will not freeze since its acid and the freeze point is pretty low.

the only true way to test a battery or alternator is to put it on a VAT-40 or a battery load / amp tester.

nocturnaldragon

hmmmm ok, your first post is a bit confussing then, I would replace the battery and go from there, i ussed to work at a shop where we tested propably 15 systems a day and if the battery was bad it would show a bad alternator half the time as well so get yourself a new one and go from there imo.

Edited from convo i had with him.


Modified by nocternaldragon at 12:01 PM 11/12/2004

colinproctor

battery has a dead cell and wont hold a charge.

get a new battery.

Good ol' Screwtape

maybe it's your terminals? Loose/corroded? They might just be ******* up while your car sits in the cold. Check 'em out before buying a new battery or alternator.
My shiet kept dying for a couple of days. I tested the battery, it wouldn't hold charge, so I bought a new one. Still kept dying. So one day all I did was squeeze my terminals together tighter and it started right up. Magic.

DJ_SaNdOz

I say check the battery leads 1st since that's the cheapest, then verify the volts at the alt (shoudl be 14ish), and replace the alt/battery as needed. I was having issues starting my car & keeping it running & it was due to a corroded battry lead....

Luserkid

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by FdOoUoRr &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">battery has a dead cell and wont hold a charge.

get a new battery.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yup, if its really cold outside the batt. wouldnt be good anymore. Honestly man you need a new batt not an alternator.

EJ8 GSR-T

Hey man the same thing happened to me, check your ecu codes and tell me what you get....on my civic it was one freakin whire somewhere in the firewall that had come lose, but it was the wire that held the power distributor, so if your ecu code says something about ELD then my guess is thats whats up.

93CivicSI

Stock alternator (i think) is rated at 85 amps.... AND if the shop you took it to, only verified that it works, as opposed to checking the voltage regulator as well, I would say take it to someone else....

My guess is that it is your alternator....

jman30513

what is a ELD?....what does it do and where is it?...thanks again all for your input

jman

BatuKing

ELD is your electrical load detector what it does it help control the field on the alternator to increase voltage output.

Look from looking at your first post I can tell you that the alternator is not putting out what it should, It needs to put out not only AMPS but voltage. Now those saying it has a bad battery explain this, each cell in the battery holds 2.1 volts to 2.5 volts for each cell and there are 6 cells now he is getting 12.45 which means that the battery is working. THe alternator should be putting out atleast 14.2 volts during idle

So If I was you I would take it to sears per say and ask them to run a battery / charging test on it but my $$$$$ is on the regulator in the alternator, ELD will throw codes and a bad ELD will cause the vehicle to bog when you turn on say the AC compressor or the blower fan or even headlights since the ELD's job is to pick up the current in the main battery line and to check for sudden current spikes from the vehicles demand and increase the field on the alternator.

spicoli

I had the same problem about a week ago, in canada so i know what cold is, about 3 mornings in a row battery cranked really weak, 4th day, no crank at all, changed tha battery with a **** new one and it works great ever since,

So i would say battery!

93Civac

Take it to someone who can do a charging system test. Your battery could have good voltage but have bad CCA (Cold Cranking Amps). Which would explain why it wouldnt start when it was that cold. They should also be able to tell if your system is charging properly or not.

jman30513

ok did some more testing
car is at idle...i push the a/c button on....idle surges up 100 rpms then slowly falls
same with the head lights

if i press the throttle, rpms go up then fall down to normal
while driving...i press in the clutch....rpms fall then go up to like 1500

anything here?

jman

colinproctor

my EG was doing the same thing, except it wasnt cold outside. the battery just wasnt holding a charge, it had a dead cell and the cell was to drained to recharge. i tried recharging the battery with a battery charger and it worked fine for that day. the next day..... nothing, the battery was dead. the cell was draining the rest of the battery and wouldnt let it hold a charge. i replaced the battery and the car works fine now.

also if it was your alternator i dont understand how you could drive around. if your car wasnt running off the alternator and was running off the battery, the car wouldnt run for long until it had drained all the power from the battery and then the car would cut off. the car will run off just battery but not for long. the car would still start if it was the alternator, it would just start and run off your battery.

jman30513

also....just thought of this
i have never had to reset my clock or anything

so i guess it never goes fully dead (battery that is)

colinproctor

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jman30513 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">also....just thought of this
i have never had to reset my clock or anything

so i guess it never goes fully dead (battery that is)</TD></TR></TABLE>

i never had to reset anything either. the battery holds just enough charge that it is not completely dead to that point.

StrikerX

have a voltmeter? measure the battery with the car off, maybe your reading 12.45v from the alternator since you only checked with the car on. If the battery voltage is too low it will not have enough just to start you car. as said before if you were able pop the clutch to start it and drove fine then your alternator is in good shape, or atleast at enough power to keep all the components working properly. My guess its the battery. Battery cells can short which would bring down the total voltage being supplied by the alternator.

jman30513

what could cause a battery to short suddently?
not securely held down?....bumpy road?

and help me explain the rapid brightening and dimming of my lights



Modified by jman30513 at 2:28 PM 11/12/2004

BatuKing

Look , we are all just throwing Idea's to you..

Go to your parts place and ask if they have a VAT-40 or similar charging / battery tester.