8point6

5/22 - Edit: Having the same problem again. Checked my battery and my connections; still can't find the problem.
5/19 - EDIT: I ended up having a loose battery terminal. THanks for the help though

I brought my hatch out of a 6 month storage and am having some electrical trouble. During the last week I've noticed some problems with a few things which have lead to the engine not turning over at all.

At first my turn signals started acting up: upon signalling, the blinkers would flash irregularly, return to normal for a few seconds and then back to a wierd pattern. Besides that, my radio started turning off at random times, mostly during idle; it would then return after blipping the throttle, but not for long. A couple days ago I noticed that the engine would sputter during vtec ingagement, sounding kinda like low fuel pressure, which I later found wasn't the case. Last night, after being parked for about an hour, the engine wouldn't turn over at all; the gauge cluster lights would light up pretty dim in the on position but no response from the starter whatsoever.

Aside from all this, my car alarm has also been acting up during this last week. I would experience random chirps and full alarm blasts at any given time, so I've disabled it since. I've never had so many issues all at one time. Hopefully there is a single source to all this complication.

Can anyone diagnose me??

Does this sound like the battery or alternator?


Modified by 8point6 at 1:59 PM 5/19/2007


Modified by 8point6 at 3:54 PM 5/19/2007


Modified by 8point6 at 11:01 AM 5/22/2007

8point6

bringing it up.

Mr.EM1_EK

sounds like a battery. did you disconnect it while in storage? usually when the batt. is going bad it will cause your alarm to act up sometimes. just charge it and when you get it started, let it run and disconnect one of the terminals and if the car cuts off you got a bad alt.

Crispy

Out of those two I would say alternator. The battery may be a problem too but it isnt what is causing the problems you described.
poor electrical performance at idle untill you spin the alternator faster is what makes me think that.

...on the other hand, could your car alarm be causing you problems? I know those are not a walk in the park to install and maybe theres some bad wiring there?

8point6

THanks for the suggestions but i've found the problem! - I went out and tested everything with a voltage meter. The battery was giving some up and down readings, so I tightned up the pos terminal a bit and tried the ignition again. It started up fine so I gave it a test drive; everything seems normal again. Easy fix!

Edit - nm, still having problems


Modified by 8point6 at 11:02 AM 5/22/2007

8point6

man... , it's back.

instructor74

did you take a close look at the battery terminal clamps. I have had the OEM band style clamps stretch enough to cause a loose connection. Also pull them off and give both the terminal and the connectors a good cleaning with a battery terminal brush and spray the connection down with a terminal corrosion inhibitor once you put things back together. Check and clean all the grounds from the chassis to the engine, trans, and head

8point6

That was a good suggestion. I've checked and cleaned all of my connections to and from the battery and my engine's chassis grounds in the engine bay, but I'm still getting problems.
I have another "symptom": When my power door windows reach the down position the regulator ticks for a few extra seconds. This started when the other problems arouse.

instructor74

It really sounds like you have a bad cell in your battery. I would just change it out with a known good battery and see if the problem goes away