I did search for about an hour and no luck...

well my problem is that my battery keeps dying and i have no idea whats the probably...brand new altenator...its like the altenator never charges my battery up like its suppose too..

i think its an electrical problem some where but i have no luck trying to find it..has any every had this problem?

 

unless its a new battery, the battery itself could be the problem.. also, unless you have tested the car while running... the alternator could be just making enough power to run the car and not charge, however, you would eventually run out of power if that was the case, while running.... have your battery checked, if it is ok... have your alt checked.

also make sure that the pan the battery sits on is still there, the plastic... same as stored car batteries, they need to be stored properly or they will lose power, something about grounding or transfering energy to the ground.

 

well i had the battery tested and is was still okay..so then i had autozone charge it up...

what do you mean about the plastic being stored properly?

 

there should be a plastic tray under the battery in the car... this does something to prevent it from being grounded out.. a friend of mine who is VERY knowledgable about car audio told me about it, and my father as well, who knows a lot about the old car batteries and quite a bit about the newer stock batteries...

So in short, I do not know why this plastic baffle is important, but its stock, and people say it grounds out the battery and discharges it.

EDIT: check your wires as well, for corosion and stuff...

 

i do have a plastic tray under my battery is it supposed to be on a certain way or something?

i did checked all my wires by the way...took my whole wire harness out and put it back on...

 

get a multimeter or voltmeter,
and hook it up to your battery terminals, when the car is running.

your battery is a 12volt battery,
if you see around 12volts or less while it's running, that means the alternator is NOT charging the battery.

if it IS charging it, you will see 13-14volts

if it keeps dying then most likely it's not charging it. first thing's i'd check,
all the fuses,
and make sure the white wire running from the top of the alternator to the fuse box is in good condition(it carries the alt power current).

 

Just curious are you running a OBDI motor in a OBDII car.. or the other way around if so you may not have done the harness swap correctly.

 

having any alarm problems>?

i have a friend who was having problems with his hatch because of a ground in his alarm

 

yeah check all ur grounds too,
I had a nocharging prob a ways back and it was a loose ground wire. was bolted on.. just not tight enuf.

heh.. now i've got a crazy erratic charging problem that I can't figure out.. sigh...

 

Someone had mentioed the voltmeter already so no sense going there but i will elaborate a little for you.
With the car running take the voltmeter and set it to Dc current. it should read between 13.4 and 14.2 volts, it may fluctuate a little this is of little concern then shut the motor down. apply the Voltmeter to the terminals again and have a buddy start the car. if the battery voltage drops below 10-9 or even 8 volts it's time for a new battery. It has a weak cell and will not charge properly again. it will progressivly get worse. the little green eye thing, disregard it as well because its only on one side of the cells.

Now to test the alternator just in case the previous test worked out well. while the cars running, disconnect the Pos.+ terminal. If the car stalls you have either a weak alternator or its just doing nothing. Just cause its new doesnt mean its not defective. (Ive pulled brand new PPI and Phoenix Gold amps right of the box bad, new doesn't mean not broken during shipment or storage). if the car still runs then your alternator is not the issue. You may have a bad lead going to the battery. Check your terminals on the battery. make sure they are on properly and tight. then follow your ground paths. make sure there not corroded.

If in doubt. Now would be a good time to hit the local Mobile Audio shop and get some new 5/16 terminals and about 8-10 ft of 8 gauge wire. its not as big as the old stuff on every occasion but usually it packs more strands of wire giving it better conductivity. I prefer to use the silver terminals. the gold just gets too........err, yea....well for my use. Update all the grounds the one from the head to the front core support. from the transmission to the pass. shotgun that leads to the battery. with your digital multimeter you could actually do your very own grounding kit but i'd wait till after you find your problem first. Good luck

 

see if something is draining your battery

do a load test on your car too.
U need one of those battery testors and u just turn on the switch to 10 secs and see where its stands.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by CooBlueDAB &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">also make sure that the pan the battery sits on is still there, the plastic... same as stored car batteries, they need to be stored properly or they will lose power, something about grounding or transfering energy to the ground.</TD></TR></TABLE>

no they dont, Infact reading the post about your dad and the OLDER style batteries then yes that would apply,why because they used bad insulation and sometimes wood ( 1940's and 1950's and some 1960's )but with current newer batteries you dont need to use a plastic tray, Dont go and post about how come batteries are not on the ground and they discharge thru the concrete. The main reason is for liablity, ask sears they put it on racks so you can carry it easily and also for older people not to hurt their backs. Do a search on the internet about batteries discharging on the ground and you will see its a HOAX. and FYI I have a major in automotive tech and electronics tech, so I know this for a fact.

It's impossible for the battery to discharge thru the plastic, why because plastic is an insulator

Inorder to test your alternator dont just pull the positive lead, you can still run off your alternator but if your not putting out the amps then your doa, check with a VAT-40 or similar device to get your alternator full fielded so you can see how many amps is comming out of it.

 

i've heard from a few people that running the car off just the alternator is unsafe.

or rather pulling the pos terminal off the battery with the car running is unsafe.

how true is this for eg civics?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Tad &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i've heard from a few people that running the car off just the alternator is unsafe.

or rather pulling the pos terminal off the battery with the car running is unsafe.

how true is this for eg civics?</TD></TR></TABLE>


true, why because given the design of an alternator ( or old school term generator ) it produces AC voltage and converts it to DC, so what happens is that the alternator can only filter out so much after that it goes straight up to the battery, where the rest is filtered out so imagine if you got rid of that filter, the AC signals go down the line and into the ECU and other sensors and possibly damaging them also. Thats why you really dont do that test I never do it nor recommend it at anytime.

 

dead cell

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by murmur9 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">dead cell</TD></TR></TABLE>

possiblity, but check for sulfation first

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Tad &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">get a multimeter or voltmeter,
and hook it up to your battery terminals, when the car is running.

your battery is a 12volt battery,
if you see around 12volts or less while it's running, that means the alternator is NOT charging the battery.

if it IS charging it, you will see 13-14volts

if it keeps dying then most likely it's not charging it. first thing's i'd check,
all the fuses,
and make sure the white wire running from the top of the alternator to the fuse box is in good condition(it carries the alt power current).</TD></TR></TABLE>

i do have a voltmeter and voltage always drops as i drive the car...but it doesnt drop right away the voltage just gets lower and lower as i drive my car..

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Forward Motion &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Update all the grounds the one from the head to the front core support. from the transmission to the pass. shotgun that leads to the battery

Now to test the alternator just in case the previous test worked out well. while the cars running, disconnect the Pos.+ terminal. If the car stalls you have either a weak alternator or its just doing nothing. Just cause its new doesnt mean its not defective. (Ive pulled brand new PPI and Phoenix Gold amps right of the box bad, new doesn't mean not broken during shipment or storage). if the car still runs then your alternator is not the issue. You may have a bad lead going to the battery. Check your terminals on the battery. make sure they are on properly and tight. then follow your ground paths. make sure there not corroded. </TD></TR></TABLE>

i had already tried to unplug my positive terminal off my battery while the car is running and it runs fine...

BTW: where are all the grounds located at under the hood of a 99 civic ex?

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Average Al &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">see if something is draining your battery

do a load test on your car too.
U need one of those battery testors and u just turn on the switch to 10 secs and see where its stands.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

where can i find a battery testor from?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by BatuKing &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
Dont go and post about how come batteries are not on the ground and they discharge thru the concrete..</TD></TR></TABLE>

I just said it is what I have heard from people more knowledgable than me... both of them had experience with the problem within the last 10 years, 4 years ago for ed (also electronics major) in his civic... a 96, and both from what they were told.

In no part did I say it was fact, just what Ive been told... so dont blow up on me, im very careful not to state things I dont know for fact, as facts. In hopes someone with the REAL 1st hand knowledge can state facts on the theory proving it right or wrong..

 

ok guys...let say i unplug my battery while my car is running and it doesnt shut off...now what wires do i know for sure is not mested up or burned out?

 

ok guys...let say i unplug my battery while my car is running and it doesnt shut off...now what wires do i know for sure is not mested up or burned out????

 

dont unplug your battery while the car is running,
read what batuking said about that.

check the big white wire coming off the alternator, that it is in good condition the whole way and secure.

take your car to an autoparts store and have them test your alternator/battery.

most likely either your alternator is toast, or there is a wiring problem.
or a ground(if you havent already checked those, but i'm assuming you have).

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Tad &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">dont unplug your battery while the car is running,
read what batuking said about that.

check the big white wire coming off the alternator, that it is in good condition the whole way and secure.

take your car to an autoparts store and have them test your alternator/battery.

most likely either your alternator is toast, or there is a wiring problem.
or a ground(if you havent already checked those, but i'm assuming you have).</TD></TR></TABLE>

well i bought a brand new altenator...tested the battery and it was okay (even had autozone charge my battery when they tested it )

and thats what im trying to figure out...if its a ground or a wiring problem..ive checked the wiring like 5 times and they look good to me (even removed the whole wire harness)

 

wow you actually pulled the whole engine wiring harness off?
well thats good to know it's it's good condition.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Tad &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">wow you actually pulled the whole engine wiring harness off?
well thats good to know it's it's good condition.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

well yea i did put the wiring harness off...thats good that its still in good condition...but its not officially good until i find out what the problem is...

 

heh, yeah, true.
maybe you have something causing a drain on the system.

maybe there is a short somewhere aside from the engine harness,
like the ecu/cabin side of the wiring harness.