EDIT:

Well I think I found the problem

One battery is garbage, the new one, wont even charge up in my truck

But this small battery is mint, stays 12.6volts and in the truck the alt powers it to 14.5V

So I throw the good battery in the car, connect the ground, connect one end of the multimeter to the positive terminal and one to the positive cable wire (there not connected) and I get a 12.5volt reading on the multimeter

That means something is draining some serious power right?

How do I find the ******

Just got it back on the road from a overwinter build.

The car ran mint 2 weeks ago when I took it for a few hour trip out of town, electrical system was fine.

2 days ago I start driving it again and noticed that after a while of the car idling and me turning it off an on (no driving, I was tuning idle and such) that the battery was getting weaker. Eventually the car didnt start

I figured my battery went dead or I got a bad one (battery was BRAND NEW 2 weeks ago). SO I grabbed the dinky small one out of my truck and threw it in and it fired right up. Went for a 30 min drive tonight without turning the car off and came home

Went out 2 hours later and the car wont start, barely has enough power to light up my gauges and start the fan.

So now Im stuck, the battery is brand new, could be bad but I swapped it with a known working one that I drive daily in my truck and it still killed it.

I also read that if you get the car running and then disconnect the negative battery terminal that if the alt is bad the car would die, well the car kept running when I pulled the negative terminal.

The alternator was replaced about 14 months ago, sat through winter, worked just fine a few weeks ago on my trip. but my battery isnt getting charged

The car is obd0 and the motor is a d16a6. I need some help on how to diagnose this **** please. I need this car



Modified by PINKS at 1:54 PM 6/2/2006

 

sounds like you have a drain on your system. not to point out the obvious or anything, lol

 

The car was running, running for 30 min almost I think it took me to scoot around

Came back out after turning it off and it didnt have enough power to crank

I dont think its a drain, i think its something not being charged, but I dont know why, alt is new rebuild

 

just because the alternator is new doesnt mean it didnt fail again.. My money is on the Alternator is bad

 

try this........it could be the culprit......i dont know exatcly how or why this is......but try it..it may work...


http://www.partsamerica.com/pr...6.pdf

hmm maybe not.........i just read it's an obd0.........my bad...but maybe your car is like this too....i dont have a SINGLE clue..i just saw this one time.......when i replaced my obd1 alt.

 

bump for bing stumped

 

it's either the alternator or ur grounding out some place, check connections, then see if u can do a temp replacement on an alternator, just to see if it's that..

 

I dont have another alternator or a junkyard around me. A $270 alternator would hurt my bank account very much right now and like I said, im pretty sure its fine based on the removing the battery terminal test and the fact that it got me very far and back 2 weeks ago before I had to swap trannies

 

[QUOTE=PINKS]I dont have another alternator or a junkyard around me. A $270 alternator would hurt my bank account very much right now and like I said, im pretty sure its fine based on the removing the battery terminal test and the fact that it got me very far and back 2 weeks ago before I had to swap trannies[/QUOTE

Where did u buy ur alternator.. they usually carry a 2-3 year warranty at part stores

 

My grandparents bought it for me through a mechanic, no reciept

 

If the car is running with the battery cables disco'd then the alternator is good. You have another issue it sounds like.

 

I only disconnected the negative cable

Does it matter if the positive is connected?

 

I believe you are supposed to disco the positive. Because power travels through the positive not the negative lol

 

I work in the industry and I can't tell you the number of times i have gotten a bad alt for a honda or had it work for a few weeks or months and then just go out esp. if it is a reman unit take it back to the mech that your grandparents got it from and have him replace it for you. But before you go that direction put a multi meter across the battery term and see what the voltage is with the car off. then start the car the battery should read almost 13.5 volts. if it starts to drop below that when running it is prob your alt

 

Well I think I found the problem

One battery is garbage, the new one, wont even charge up in my truck

But this small battery is mint, stays 12.6volts and in the truck the alt powers it to 14.5V

So I throw the good battery in the car, connect the ground, connect one end of the multimeter to the positive terminal and one to the positive cable wire (there not connected) and I get a 12.5volt reading on the multimeter

That means something is draining some serious power right?

How do I find the ******

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by PINKS &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Well I think I found the problem

One battery is garbage, the new one, wont even charge up in my truck

But this small battery is mint, stays 12.6volts and in the truck the alt powers it to 14.5V

So I throw the good battery in the car, connect the ground, connect one end of the multimeter to the positive terminal and one to the positive cable wire (there not connected) and I get a 12.5volt reading on the multimeter

That means something is draining some serious power right?

How do I find the ******</TD></TR></TABLE>

I'm assuming your doing this parasitic drain with the ignition key off.
If yes, then you have a drain problem. Something is pulling current when it shouldn't be.

 

No key was in the ignition and I checked voltage between the positive terminal and the positive cable and I had 12.5volts

I dont know how to find this problem though

 

bump

 

so what was the problem?

 

If you have a multi meter, Disconnect one of your battery cables, doesn't matter which. Set your meter to milli amps and put one lead on the battery post and the other on the battery cable. Make sure the key is off and no dome lights are on or anything. Your meter should not read more than 50 milli amps. If it does give it some time to make sure its not filling any capacitors. If it doesn't go away in about 1/2 an hour, then you have a parasetic drain problem and will have to pull fuses to find the cause.

 

dito
measure the power between the cable and battery and slowly start pullen fuses until it goes away. then you at least can find the culprite fuse!

thats one thing i hate about my honda is that tiny battery! i dont think it would take long for that sucker to be drained dead!

might be something as small as glove box/trunk light not going off.....


best way to tell is just start pulling fuses and if you have to rewire them so they only get power with the ignition.

preaty easy with a relay and some wire terminals and one tap terminal.
ive had to do that in several vehicles for odd battery drains. i used to have a book that said how to test for power drains BUT couldnt find it last year. if anyone knows of one online id like to know a link as well


thiers also a kinda cheap way to find a hard draw... with a light tester... just pull a fuse and jump the fuse with the light tester, power and ground, one to each terminal and see how bright it gets.

 

alright I'll try that metod when it stops riaingin

thanks

 

My battery is definetely being drained by something

I cant figure out how muhc is being drawn though, what does the sign look like or say on the multimeter, i dont understand this thing

Thanks guys

 

What kind of multimeter are you using?

 

You may want to see if your car has an ELD in the under-hood fuse box. Electronic Load Detector. It tells the computer and the alternator when and when not to charge the battery, like at idle and wide-open throttle. If the ELD is jumped or bad it will not charge the battery at all. Also, do you have a stereo system in your trunk? There is a certain way to wire a stereo with an ELD system.