well a friend of mine has a 96 ek with a 98 type r motor, it was all good untill his oil pump went out and his motor locked up. him and his cousin rebuilt the motor and when it was time to install it again they ran into a couple of problems. first motor wouldnt start and all his wiring harness was messed up. so he just went ahead and got a new one. he got one off of a 97 civic ex. well it all went good and it finally started up. only thing was when it started up and the headlights were on, every light would flicker, and his rpms would go crazy. well he decided to drive it home and on the way there, it dies. it wont start up again. so his cousin comes and gives it jumper cables and it starts up so he drives it home. well on his way there right before he pulled in the drive way he gets a flat. he has no lock for it so he didnt drive the car for about 3 days. i go over there today to see the car and it starts right up. stays running for about 15 min then he shuts it off. we go in and about 10 minutes later we come out and it wont start. we try jumping it nothing. we then left went to eat then the mall. when we get back we try again to start. while looking at it again i notice the positive wire that goes from the battery to the starter it loose. so i tighten it and try jumping it and starts right up. i fiqure well thats the problem. so i take it around the neighborhood for about 10 minutes, it runs great. only all the lights are flickering and rpms are just bouncing up and down. so i pull in his driveway shut the car off, try to restart it and it wont even turn over. try to jump it and nothing. starter wire is on there tight as well as everything else. i cant seem to fiqure this out... maybe a short somewhere... or something draining the battery? can anyone help. thank you

p.s. sorry for such a long post

 

Maybe get some paragraphs happening, state at the bottom to sum it up after you describe everything(problems\issues\fixes\weirdness)you have had, or are having.

Might help to get some qaulity posts.Good luck

 

I would suggest check you check all the plugs from the wiring harness and make sure they are plugged into the right sensors. I know a couple of plugs that go on the manifold are the same. Its the MAP sensor, IACV, Air Temp.....a couple of those are the same and you may have them mixed up. What ecu are you running? Make sure the secondary O2 sensor is connected.

 

check wires ...
bad grounding can cause the tach needle to jump like crazy and the light to dim ...Happen to me before...Just tighten up all the grounding fixed my issue ...i thought it was something bad...

 

hey guys its my car, we checked all groud wires and everything is bolted down tight...

im running an obd2 p72, but i also have the obd2-obd1 conversion harness and a chipped p28 to go w/ that...

does anyone think it could be the alternator? because my battery is dead and won't take a jump... but when we stuck a multimeter up to the alternator, it put out the correct voltage, and the belt isn't too loose...

thanks guys!

 

First thing is to change the battery...if you have electrical issues and already know for sure that it's dead, start there. Could also be the alternator or voltage regulator that's bad too. The problem isn't in the engine harness or your lighting would not be affected. If it is in a harness, it's more likely the cabin wiring harness, it attaches to the lighting system and the engine, as well as to the dash stuff...

In regards to that secondary O2 sensor, it makes no difference whether it's hooked up or not. You get a light but the car will run.

 

hey thanks for the reply, i will be changing the battery right away... i've been looking for some alternators and a local has an obd1 ls alternator, will that work w/ my obd2 type r motor?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by imon &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">hey thanks for the reply, i will be changing the battery right away... i've been looking for some alternators and a local has an obd1 ls alternator, will that work w/ my obd2 type r motor?</TD></TR></TABLE>

I don't know for sure if it will work, you need to check the plug type on the back of it to see if it fits your harness. It will probably fit the engine brackets & pulley though.

 

hey thanks again for the reply, i will am going to pick up that alternator later today and see if the plugs match... so do i have 2 different problems or 1 problem tied in together, (the flickering lights, and car not starting)? because i'll check my cabin harness for the lights but will i still need to replace my alternator?

 

I'd do the battery first, see what happens. You already know you need that for sure. It's also easy to put in, the alternator is a lot bigger task...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by klungemonger &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">First thing is to change the battery...if you have electrical issues and already know for sure that it's dead, start there. Could also be the alternator or voltage regulator that's bad too. The problem isn't in the engine harness or your lighting would not be affected. If it is in a harness, it's more likely the cabin wiring harness, it attaches to the lighting system and the engine, as well as to the dash stuff... </TD></TR></TABLE>

hey where is the voltage regulator?

 

I think the regulator is built into the alternator...

 

oh ok, well instead of a new battery i charged up my old battery... with the full charge it cranked right up, but after about 15-20 minutes w/ the highbeams on the car died... so im guessing its the alternator? i ran some wire from the alternator to the battery and started it up again, and boom it died again, and the lights were still flickering... then i used the charger to test the alternator and it failed the voltage test, so tomorrow i'll be getting a new alternator and trying that, thanks again guys!

 

well, i replaced the alternator w/ a jdm b20, it bolted right up and pluged up but i guess it was bad because it only put out 2.2 volts... so i guess im going to have to break down and pay for a $200 for a new one, but is there anything else that could be causing the battery to not hold the charge? oh and when i changed the alternator my flickering lights problem went away as well.. thanks for reading!

 

electrical problems are the WORST!

 

take the alternator and your battery to an autoparts store for a test. check your grounds cause with a lose grounds would make all or most of the lights flickering or going dim and not charging up the battery.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 2lua &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">take the alternator and your battery to an autoparts store for a test. check your grounds cause with a lose grounds would make all or most of the lights flickering or going dim and not charging up the battery.</TD></TR></TABLE>

well i took both alternators to autozone, and they said that they could not bench test them, and that they had to be in the car...

 

Remember the ECU controls charging too through the "ALTC" pin on the ECU. It goes to the alternator and lets the ECU turn off the charging system. So, when the ECU isn't controlling it, it acts like a normal alternator, charging when the voltage regulator says too. When the ECU inhibits it though, it'll never charge.

You need to check the wiring diagram and see if the ECU (or a bad connection) is telling the alternator not to charge.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by MasterKwan &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Remember the ECU controls charging too through the "ALTC" pin on the ECU. It goes to the alternator and lets the ECU turn off the charging system. So, when the ECU isn't controlling it, it acts like a normal alternator, charging when the voltage regulator says too. When the ECU inhibits it though, it'll never charge.

You need to check the wiring diagram and see if the ECU (or a bad connection) is telling the alternator not to charge. </TD></TR></TABLE>

hmm thanks never thought of that before, i'll try to check it out tonight...

 

I don't know if D motors have this but, R motors all had it. I disconnected ALTC myself so, the ECU didn't let the voltage drop off. I wanted a steady 14.5 volts.

 

well i tried two different alternators that came out of running motors, and still having the same problem w/ the battery not holding a charge... and all the alternators test to put out only 2.2 volts when using a battery tester... so i have no clue what is wrong anymore... my ALTC is connected, and i tried disconnecting it, but it still had the same problem... the fuse for the alternator under the dash isn't bad either... maybe my wiring harness has ate ****? its an 1998 EX 5spd harness, supposedly the best harness for a swap in an ek... HELP ME OUT!!! thanks...

 

my battery light is not on either! any other pointers guys?

 

Have you swapped the ecu yet to make sure it's not fried?