I got the weirdest problem going on in my civic.

The battery is charging 100% off the alternator, no flaws there.

If I unplug the battery the car runs fine - running off the alternator - no flaws there.

So the battery (brand new) and alternator are both 100%.

When I drive the car, it charges the battery, as it should.

The positive cable's a little loose (snug, but not as tight as it can go b/c the tightening nut is all fucked up). Though it runs fine - no problems, the battery's 100% (note that).

If I bring the battery to my battery charger - charges fine.

If I do booster cables or a booster pack - NO CHARGE on the battery. As in if the battery is 100% dead, and I was to hook up the positive to positive and negative to ground (or negative) there would be NO response from the car, it'd remain dead. If I hook the positive up to the positive and touch the negative to all the grounds - NO SPARK - it's not completing a connection.

Though it's charging by the alternator 100%, not low on power, alternator's output is 100%, and even though the cable's loose, it's making 100% contact w/ the terminal.

It's "unjumpable" - but other than that, 100%. - I can't figure it out.

The only thing I can think of is there's a cut in the wire that goes to the starter and it's grounding out whenever you jump it. Anybody have any other theories?

 

I don't get what your saying. You can't jump start anthor car? or your car does not start with a full charge battery.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by wrx-killer-Sti-eater &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I don't get what your saying. You can't jump start anthor car? or your car does not start with a full charge battery.</TD></TR></TABLE>

i'm confused too. if you have a brand new battery and the alternator and battery is at 100%, then why are you trying to charge it?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by philosofy1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

i'm confused too. if you have a brand new battery and the alternator and battery is at 100%, then why are you trying to charge it?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Because I thought the battery before I replaced it was dead.

When I hooked up jumper cables, nothing, 2 different sets, then "bam" everything just lit up outta nowhere - but my battery was dead before that - I knew it.

The battery was NEAR dead but wouldn't accept a charge. It wasn't a "weak charger" either - running car and booster pack - no spark from the negative terminal, the circuit's not completing..but ONLY for jumping...when it's running the alternator charges it fine .

Then today I had to do a lot of work on my window actuator with the car off so the dome light's on, trunk light, dummy lights, and the power lights - so I hooked up a booster pack to the battery for an extra "boost" so it didn't drain the battery too much - and there was nothing from the booster pack, hooked up positive terminal, hit the negative to the negative terminal or any part of the chassis to ground and NO sparks.

You guys are confused? I'm confused too.

SIMPLIFIED:
Everything works 100% but the car's WILL NOT take power from a booster pack or jumper cables. It makes ZERO sense.

It takes a charge PERFECTLY from the alternator while running.

The only thing I can think of is if there's a short in the wire going from the positive lead to the starter it's grounding out there so the alternator can charge the battery fine b/c it's grounding out through the starter but when you jump it it's also grounding out there so it's not charging the battery. I don't know, I can't figure it out.

Let's put it this way.

If I drove it, turned it on and off for 4 weeks all day it would NOT drain.

If I left my headlights on until it ran completely out - tried jumping it, it WILL NOT start.

Weirdest **** ever.

 

Hook up the jumper cables to the car battery. Get a meter and read the voltage off the jumper cables.You got to have bad cables and booster.

 

make sure its not your booster pack thats bad. Never have i ever heard of a battery cant hold a charge from a booster. It sounds like a bad booster or the wires from the booster is cut somewhere.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by wrx-killer-Sti-eater &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Hook up the jumper cables to the car battery. Get a meter and read the voltage off the jumper cables.You got to have bad cables and booster. </TD></TR></TABLE><TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by hmtcrxsir &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">make sure its not your booster pack thats bad. Never have i ever heard of a battery cant hold a charge from a booster. It sounds like a bad booster or the wires from the booster is cut somewhere. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Yes, I have thought of the possibility that 2 sets of jumper cables are bad (but work fine on other cars) and that my booster pack is busted (but works fine on every other car) - though I don't think that's the problem.

 

Fixed in case anybody actually gave a **** to such a weird problem.

I pulled the harness off today. Turns out there was a crack in the circle piece that goes on the battery post.

I went down to my friend's garage and got one of those clamp on connectors that look like this:

(bottom right)

I pinched it with a pair of vice grips and snapped off the old end, bolted this right on top of the whole mess...bit of a tight fit on my battery terminal, but I got it on, tightened it up, and car started right up - jumped it, 100% connection - negative sparked when I touched it to a ground, everything's peachy.

Weird problem, so much for searching the obvious I guess....note to all: Check terminal condition. I usually sand it out with that metal sand-paper stuff, but I haven't done it on the civic in awhile.

to a finally fixed problem.