Ok this has been on going for atleast a year but when I drive my car at night I notice that the lights dim and brighten depending on my speed or rpms or gear Im in. I also have to jump the car if I dont drive it for a few days and even if I drive the **** out of it for a few hours, it still wont start on its own without a push or a jump. I took the car to autozone and they tested it and said it was the altenator but what I dont get is this has been going on for atleast a year and if the altenator is bad then the battery would never recharge and therefore I couldnt have been driving this long without doing anything about it.

Now someone told me something a while back about when you swap a b series into an ek, the altenator does not kick on until you hit a certain rpm. Is there any truth to this statement and if so, how do I go about fixing it. I dont want to replace the altenator if thats not the direct problem.

 

It could be going bad theres no telling how much longer they are going to last but from what you have said those are all the signs of a dieing altenator.

 

Change the alternator and maybe even the battery... when was the last time you changed the battery? Use a battery charger and charge it up, wait a couple hours and see if the battery will lower on it's own... if so, the battery could be the issue.. if not, then drive it around and see if it'll stay, go lower, etc. That should give you an answer...

 

if autozone tested the alternator and said it is bad then i would go with that.

 

I wouldn't, lol, but in this case... probably.. (=

 

pull off the negative terminal and then use a test light to see if you have constant draw on the car.

If you do; Start pulling fuses until the light goes out. I found my rear defroster was drawing on my car and draining the battery.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Vero &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">pull off the negative terminal and then use a test light to see if you have constant draw on the car.

If you do; Start pulling fuses until the light goes out. I found my rear defroster was drawing on my car and draining the battery.</TD></TR></TABLE>
if you pull of the negativ.. you will have no draw !?!..

and have you look at your grund connections ?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Zeus Zore &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
if you pull of the negativ.. you will have no draw !?!..

and have you look at your grund connections ?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Ok you pull off the negative terminal, then you clip one end of the test light to the chasis, and the other to the fuses. If the light comes on, than those fuses are constantly drawing power.

 

use a volt meter.. my civic sits at around 14v at idle and when the car is off its around 12.3volts..

 

heres an idea start the car and disconnect the battery while its running if the car dies out its alternator and u might want to get a stronger alternator. and if it stays on at a normal idle it should be good, if its ur battery just hook up a volt meter it will tell u if its bad but it sounds like ur alternator for sure

 

tested the battery tofay and its100%. so changeing the altenator tomorrow.... cheers friends

 

here's what i think from what you are saying. your alternator may be bad. you might have a low charge on your alternator, like when you say depending on how fast you go your lights dim, i think your alternator is not putting enough charge when you are at idle or on a load, and when the alternator isnt putting enough charge, it will take the juice out of your battery. take your battery and alternator to kragen and have them load test it, it's free of charge, you should be putting out between 13-15 volts from your alternator, 14 would be considered normal, anywhere under 13 or above 15 is considered a low or high charge, and will evenually kill your battery..

 

hey aaron, let me know what you did if you find how to fix the problem. I am and have been experiencing the same problem. I replaced my alternator a year ago but that didn't help. I still have the same type of dimming light problem. Good luck