pipster37

so I have a 98 civic dx 5 speed

went to go to work yesterday car ran fine finally it warmed up and in about 3 minutes of turning on the headlights the heater and the wipers I had lost complete battery charge and alternator charge took both off had them tested both tested perfect checked all ground wires and power connections cant seem to find anything wrong but car wont stay running for more then a few minutes when I can get it started (push starting so much fun)

anyone got any ideas

pipster37

side note on occasion I have no dash lights until I tap on the dimmer switch

ewilliams1990

It dies at a complete stop I'm assuming, right? It's like the car is stalling out?

pipster37

as long as I keep the revs going it wil stay half *** running but very very rough almost stalling out

pipster37

but clearly losing all power from battery and alternator

Lizardslap

get a multimeter and do this

However I would suggest starting when doing this test start with the alternator as the first thing you disconnect

B(eighteen)C

take it to vato-zone and have your batt and alt. tested

pipster37

if you read the whole first post I did that already today they both passed with flying colors

pipster37

[QUOTE=Lizardslap;49293139]get a multimeter and do this

However I would suggest starting when doing this test start with the alternator as the first thing you disconnect

[/QUOTE

ok so that not quite the problem its not draining power out of normal when not running its after I get it running and it warms up something shorts and all of a sudden I have no power takes like 5 minutes total once I get it driving after warm up then I have no power in battery or alternator yet they both work perfect according to autozone so there is something sucking mass power when driving and need any ideas on how to diagnoise where to start looking to fix this again going thru the motions of the video maybe it will lead me in the right direction

ewilliams1990

Without the engine running, do you get power to all your lights, dash, etc?

pipster37

yup everything works perfect then it all just dies out eventually keep having to flip the battery between a brand new spare and the old one which is only 3 month old on the charger to resupply them enough to keep testing thru the trouble shoot atm im pulling fuses and staring at the volt meter trying to figure out which one is shorting causing the extreme power drain

by eventually I mean only after I run the car long enough for it to warm up (5-10 minutes) then about 3-5 minutes its back to dead battery

pipster37

ok so nothing is showing a high draw on the battery using the meter checking all the fuses still nothing so still at square one....should I be pulling my dash apart and looking thru all my wiring harnesses for a burnt out wire or something at this point im completely lost

Joyboy

I have had Autozone lead me down the primrose path to confusion before. Sometimes they only check for voltage from the alternator and not amperage. You can have 14.5 volts from it, but little to no amperage and your battery goes dead. I suspect the batteries might have an issue as well, even if the alternator is not working they should last longer than 3-5 minutes. Here are some checks you can do yourself that might help.