Okay, first problem with my 2000 civic si since i've owned it. 63k miles on it. Been noticing lately that it would take awhile to crank up. today I turned it over and it was just clicking. Fuel pump primed, radio and all that worked. I put a new battery in about a year ago, so I'm assuming that it is still good.

I had to be at work in 15 minutes so, i kick started it and it fired right up. At this point I'm assuming that it's the starter.

The wierd thing is that when I was driving (not very far) that my radio was turning off and on. Other than that, the car felt normal.

Also, to check the alternator, do I take the neg battery cable off when it's idling?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

thanks guys.

 

If your radio was turning on/off I would say it's your alternator.

 

yeah, that's what I was thinking too, if my alternator is bad, my battery is probably pretty drained as well...

crap I'm wondering if I should drive it home, it's like a 20 minute drive.

 

Could be. If you have another car available, trying putting that battery in your car and see what happens.

 

I'm at work, so I don't have another battery right now...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 808_si &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I'm at work, so I don't have another battery right now...</TD></TR></TABLE>

Maybe a co-worker?

 

working solo tonight

 

do you have some kind of system that would make the alternator go bad?

 

nope. just clarion deck w/ mb quart stock replacement speakers. been running the same setup for two years...

I should add that my car is stock, all I have is a comptech icebox.

 

Cheehee 808 EM1's represent!!!

&lt; EPB 00' EM1 (Salt Lake)

But yeah regarding your post, a week ago my brother with a 2000 EX had the same problem even though his battery was a year old we replaced it. Only 60 bucks at carquest. You can try and go to checkers to test out your alternator too I think it's free the last time I checked, not too sure now. Oh and yeah check/clean your ground wires!

 

auullright!!

thanks for the tip. My grounds are good, just checked em. I'm mostly concerned with driving home tonight from work..

thanks for the help guys, it feels good to talk about this while i'm crappen around at work

 

any other suggestions?

 

i had the same problem, i look at my grounds and i look good but then i changed them and the car turn on. just change its $3.99 at autozone. make sure you check the ground that goes to the trany.

 

pretty sure my grounds are good, they are sun auto (jdm) grounds, high quality with gold connectors... i'll recheck em though


Modified by 808_si at 10:00 PM 10/29/2005

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 808_si &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">any other suggestions?</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

quick update. couldn't even remote unlock the doors, and tried to jump it. All lights and stuff turned on but as soon as I tried to turn it over all the lights, door ding went out. then 20 seconds later with my truck running, the lights came back on, crank it...lights instantly turn out.

So I kick started it again, and it fired right up. Let it run for ahwile, everything seemed normal. After I turned the car off, my headlights etc. worked.

I'm hoping it's just the battery!

 

I just have the stock door clicker. i was just saying that there was no electrical functionality at all....

 

have you removed the alarm, just the brain

 

Heh! #1 reason for your problem is battery corrosion. Go buy a terminal cleaner at autozone for a buck. They have a male wire brush on one side and a female on the other. Clean your terminals and get your car running. After your battery is charged, you will be fine.

Why then is your radio cutting on and off? I bet you have a battery wire to the radio. It is probably connected to the terminal. If you are getting intermittent connection because of corrosion, then this again points to the problem I just outlined for ya.

If after cleaning the terminals, your problem continues, you can get the car running and pull the positive terminal off the battery. If it stays running, your alternator is good. If not, it is bad.

But my bet is on the terminal corrosion.

Some people like to pour coke (The soft drink, not the nose candy) on the terminals to remove corrosion. If you life in a place like I do, this will only attract ants! Hehe

 

Oh, and if you want to help eliminate this corrosion in the future, try this super old school trick... it works!

Superglue a penny between the terminal posts on the battery. Glue it to the plastic, not the metal terminals. The penny collects the corrosion for some unknown reason (Well unknown to me) and none gets on your terminals.

Seeing you live in Hawaii, I bet salt air has helped corrode the terminals. Let me know if I was right...

 

Hey man thanks for the help. I don't have any visible corrosion, but I didn't have tools to take off the terminals and inspect them. I'll clean em up tomorrow and let you know! Later man.

 

update, I swapped out my battery and it started right up no prob. gonna try and get a new battery under warranty and then multimeter test my alternator. thanks for the help guys.

 

Final update, took my battery in, they said it had an internal malfunction and wasn't able to hold it's charge. They gave me a new one on the spot. I also bought a multimeter at radio shack and tested the alternator. Running at 14.0v so my alternator is healthy.

So happy! thanks for your help guys, and I dodged a bullet on this one! only had to spend 6 bucks on a multimeter!

later