frankc420

So I bought a 1998 Honda Civic today. Was great until I was 100 miles from home.

I noticed the rotten egg smell about 20 minutes into the drive, but thought it was the paper mills in the area. Soon I would realize, it wasn't the paper mills.

First off, you must know, this car has a new CD player that was installed before I bought it. It was always powered on and would sometimes lose volume for about 30 seconds, then it would return and be fine for 10-15 minutes or until you hit a bump. I planned to get it taken out of the car anyway when I got home, but just didn't make it. I have no idea yet how it was installed power wise and this very well could be the cause of my problems, but I hope you guys can give me a better idea of what might be happening here.

So, I stop at a red light and when I start back off, the heat gauge shoots to H and holds, "oh crap" is my first reaction, I let off the gas, it goes back to normal. Hit the gas again, shoots to H and the radio goes off. Car doesn't want to go and it's not overheating, whats the deal? Along with it shooting to Hot, it makes a loud screech. My thought now is that it has something to do with the alternator, low RPMS, no problems, higher RPMS, problems, definitely a power thing!?

Then, white smoke starts coming out of the console. Then, from the vents. Then, from under the hood. So I pulled over. The rotten egg smell at this point is horrible, we can hardly breathe.

Pop the hood and smoke bellows out, once most of it clears I notice it's coming from the battery, it smokes for another 10 minutes atleast. After the smoke stops I try to turn the key to acc to see the temp, nothing, the battery is cooked.

So, does this sound like a voltage regulator problem? Maybe caused by a bad install of the CD player? Or could it be the alternator? I'm electrical and mechanical dumb.

Thanks, Frank

john666

without pics its a guessing game.. does the car have an amp ? if theres an amp is there a fuse on the power wire running from the battery to the amp ? yank out the stereo and howare the wires?. also are there a bunch of wires hooked up to the car battery?

jdeemseerx

your on the right track.. definately an alternator problem change the battery and the alternator.. the screeching could definately be from a belt or even from the alt. bearing. most times batteries smoke from being overcharged. also check your connections. once you replace those parts i would also take a look at the back of the radio make sure everything is ok if you dont trust it. then have the system tested with the car running you should test around 14V across the terminals. good luck

frankc420

Nah, no amp, just an aftermarket CD player. No extra cables running to the battery that I saw, just the standard red and black.

After all this happened and I was stuck on the side of the road, I found the fuse panel beside the battery and pulled the radio fuse. It's combined with the backup lights but that's the price I'll have to pay until I can yank that thing out.

frankc420

The screeching was definetly the console from too much power, when the temp gauge shot to H I'm guessing it was still pushing wanting to go past the stopping point and that's where the loud noise came from.

So is the voltage regulator built into the alternator on the 1998 honda civic?

I can get a new voltage reg for $165 or a refurb alternator for about the same price. If it's all built in, new alternator is my choice.

90Rexx

voltage regulator comes with a reman alternator

good luck hope all goes well