Howdy people.

I have a 2003 Honda CR-V that has had some starting issues for a while. It would sound like a weak start at times, then sound normal, then just outright sound like it was struggling to start. I brought it to AutoZone to have them test the battery and alternator. The first time I went up there, the guy told me both showed fine on his, then told me to start the car. When I tried, there was nothing. I had lights and radio, but no turn over. The man goes I side and comes back out with a jumper box, and after two minutes of being on the car I try starting it up and it sounded like it was brand new! Guy told me that no matter what his meter said, to go to Walmart, since the batteries are cheaper there, and get a new battery because I probably got a bad battery cell. So, I went there and got a new battery. Popped it in and I had no more issues... For about two months...

The issues came back. Went to AutoZone again. A different guy did the testing this time, and told me that my alternator was not charging my battery properly. So I bought an alternator that day. It was a remanufactured one, but I honestly couldn't afford an OEM one... So I got home, painstakingly ripped out the old one and out in the new one. Had no problems! For a week...

Now, it's been a few weeks since I swapped alternators, and just today my car refused to start. Completely. I have lights, radio, windshield wipers, etc. But no turn over. Every now and then it makes a very short putter, but can't turn over. I'm at a loss...

Do I bring that alternator backs andgand another one to try? It's a lifetime warranty, so I can do it at any time... Do I swap batteries again? Do I have a bad starter or should I check my grounds or something? /= It's my a to b car, and I gotta get it working cause I gotta work, too. Gotta keep my daughter fed.

 

At that age of vehicle I would be checking for rotted out grounds.

Need to do voltage drop tests to verify.

Battery will look like it is improperly charging if the grounds are bad.

 

Thanks for the response. How can I verify the battery is charging improperly? Sorry if it's a silly question, I'm still new to working on my own stuff!

Edit: My father in law told me when he was checking it, the battery would drain really quickly while the car was off, but was okay when the car was on. This was after a battery swap, but before the alternator swap.

 

When running measure voltage at the battery terminals. Should be close to 14 volts.

 

Well she won't start at all to do that test. As it sits, my battery is at 12.71volts. which I believe 12.6-12.9 should be the standing voltage for batteries? Now when I turn the key, I barely hear a faint click, or just the most miniscule of putter, like never even an attempt to start. Time for a new starter maybe? /=

 

Grounds!

Measure voltsge between engine block and the ground terminal on the battery. Should be zero and no more than 1 volt ehen cranking the engine.

 

Well like I said, it won't crank, but I'll do the ground terminal to engine block when I get home! Even with bad grounds, though, wouldn't it at least start with the correct sitting voltage left in the battery, or I guess a bad ground messes with the circuit while trying to get the power to crank up? Still new at this!

 

We are testing grounds even with the no start condition. I suspect you are going to see voltage between engine block and the negative battery post jump to battery voltage when you key the starter.

You could do a visual check too. There are two ground wires. One from the passenger side engine mount are to the body and one from the transmission mount area to the body.

 

Well I set my multimeter to 20 DCV, put them black node on the negative/ground terminal and put the red node on many different spots of the engine and even the body and got no reads. I saw 0.01 a few times, then it dropped back to 0.00. the only two grounds I can see without taking everything apart is the ground terminal to body and ground terminal to starter, they at least look fine. I'm missing a screw that holds the metal wire harness to my alternator, but that's always been missing, and with the new one, it only gave me the nut for the ground

 

What was the voltage while cranking?

 

I mentioned a few times it wouldn't crank lol. But it's a bad starter. Got underneath and found a way to smack the starter with a prybar while a friend turned the key. Slowly but surely it made it's way to puttering, to cranking, to finally turning over.

Weird, though... Not sure why the issue went away after a new battery for a while then a week or so after a new alternator. Maybe those things were bad and since I kept them for so long in the car it may ha e damaged the starter.

 

The early K series starters were pretty weak and failed on the regular.

The point of measurements of voltage while the key is in the cranking position was to see if there is a change while loaded. Whether or not the engine actually turned over. A bad ground would be revealed in that testing environment.

It was an attempt to halt the parts cannon and get to the bottom of your issue.

 

Ahh, sorry, I misread. But yeah, I read the K-series had meh starters. But with that bang test, it's sure enough the starter. I will check my grounds more either way since the age of the car is getting up there. Funny enough, I've o my got 118k miles on it.