jordanz

posted this a few months ago with no help and just dug the car out of the snow a few days ago to take another crack at it...

97 civic lx
d16z6 hacked up harness but this has been a gradual problem and went from just flickering dash/headlight/interior lights until car was warm, to completley draining the battery now in just a few mins...

battery light started coming on only at idle for a few days, reset the ecu and it went away..couple days later driving home my headlights dimmed and speedo and tach bounced from zero and back 2-3 times...charged the battery and everything was ok...couple weeks later let the car warm up before work, started fine, turned on the wipers and they went reaaaaly slow, lights dimmed, gauges bounced, car died and battery was completley dead...parked the car for a couple months until a few days ago...

i've had the alternator tested twice on two seperate occasions at two serperate places and it tested good both times...battery in newer and also tested postitive....i just cleaned up all the grounds in hopes that might be the problem but no luck...with the battery fully charged, i'll start the car, turn on the headlights, the heat and just let it idle...within 10-20mins everything slowly dims until the gauges start bouncing and the headlights dim and dim until the car completley dies and kills the battery...im so lost right now...

SMHero

Did you have the alternator tested on or off the vehicle?

B16_R

i think its the alternator..

better have it checked by an auto electrician..

K7-1Ktrevor

also check your engine grounds, grounds can cause some weird *** problems.

jordanz

alternator was tested twice off the car...just pulled off the engine grounds, sanded any dirt and paint off and re-installed and it didn't make a difference.

looseOFFboost

ok before this happened did you do a swap, or anything like that? I was lucky to find a buble for 200 dollars when the guy did a swap he reversed the cables at the fuse box.

start the car and check the voltage at the battery the alternator and they should match or be very close. IF not you know the problem is somewhere in between there.

byrne_06

check the alternator again in the car? i had a problem where at idle the alternator didnt produce enough power but when i drove the car it was fine for a lil bit and when i would go to restart the car it was did. get another alternator and see if it fixes the problem. If you think its a ground problem, i have taken a 50' chain and put it on top of the motor and fender or core support just to get the two to connect a lil redneck but it works.

Good luck hope it helps a lil

90_EX_Civic

could still be the alternator. alternator's are like that. it might test fine but it might not run right, know what i mean?

Jayden!

alternator!

Jayden!

or also check grounds

ekcoupeh22

iTrader: (2)

i did a b20 swap into a 96 and the alternator wouldnt charge the battery and it kept blowing the fuse for the alternator and it ended up being a wiring harness replaced the engine harness and no problem!! hope this helps