Hey guys, well i get up today about to go to class, and i turn the key to my 90' dx hatch and nothing. Not even the music or lights work. Could it be the battery? The car was working just fine yesterday. Now even the lights dont work.

Also though, its been acting a little funny, like it randomly will have trouble turning over, like you could hear it trying to turn over, sometimes i have to hold it like that for a minute before it turns on. Sometimes it wont come on for minutes. I was thinking it could be the starter.

She's got 150k and before all this was running like a champ beyond the starting problems, now just dead...

 

Could be your starter is going out. Check to see if the small wire is plugged in on it.

Also, look in the floor for small bits of dark blue plastic. If your brake light switch-pusher on the brake pedal has broken off, the brake lights will stay on all the time, draining the battery overnight. The clutch pedal safety switch is also the same kind of plastic thing that can break and prevent you from starting, but you would still have accessory power.

 

Yea i dont even have accessory power, and i dont know about the starter at this point because the car wont even light up anything. Could the battery drain that bad that the whole car is completely dead?


Well gonna try the battery in my EG hatch in a little bit. But gotta wait for my ride to my next class, not trying to be all sweaty on my first day.

 

The brake pedal switch can drain the battery that far. There will be little broken pieces of blue plastic on the floor near the pedals. You can replace it temporarily with some tape and a dime, but you'll want to put a small nut/bolt up there eventually.

Hopefully that's all it is!

 

sounds like a battery, if you didn't leave anything on for a long period of time then i'd run a test on the alternator to be safe

 

I went for the simplest idea first, and jumped the battery. Low and behold some how the battery died over night, i dont think its the brake thing cause the brake wasnt stock after i recharged the battery.


Makes me think the alternator has gone bad thinking back about those hard times i had starting it some time before like a month before. I think the car has been running off the battery while the alternator has been dead.


So how do i test the alternator if its straight?

 

i think you can hook up a voltmeter to it and get the numbers, most logically with the car off...but i when i use to work at a shop we just hooked it up to a machine and that did it for us so im not too sure on how to and what to look for when it comes to actually using the voltmeter, but if i'm not mistaken autozone and them do that type of stuff for free now-a-days

 

Yea autozone does, when off the car... Too lazy though to take it off. Is there anyways to test it while on the car?

 

Get it started and remove the positve cable from the battery and what ever you jumped it with....if it dies right away its not charging.

If you can get a voltmeter from someone (maybe autozone has one they can take out to the car) you can see how many volts its charging....test it with nothing on should be about 14 volts.
Turn on headlights on highbeam and a/c if you have it working to get the fans running and make sure its still charging somewhere above 12 volts.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by crx22 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Get it started and remove the positve cable from the battery and what ever you jumped it with....if it dies right away its not charging.

If you can get a voltmeter from someone (maybe autozone has one they can take out to the car) you can see how many volts its charging....test it with nothing on should be about 14 volts.
Turn on headlights on highbeam and a/c if you have it working to get the fans running and make sure its still charging somewhere above 12 volts.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Ok on your first idea, given the result showing that the alt. is bad it will die right away, as opposed if it is still good it should stay running? As the pulling of power makes a transition from start up from battery to alternator right?

 

only thing i know about this is i've heard some horrible things about removing terminals from a running car...good way to damage electrical circuit

 

hmm..... Yikes..

 

Yes removing the power source will show if the alt is charging or not. The removal of power requires the charging system to be working for it to continue running.

I have never had any alt. problems or wiring problems from pulling the power for a few seconds. It is far harder on the system to charge a completely dead or junk battery.

 

did u check rotor inside dizzy

it may have come off loose

after 150K miles

use loctite

and the rotor will never come out
unless breaker bar

it turns and clicks right

if yes

it could be this

i had same problem

battery was low
but it wasn't

and cranked engine and turned on

 

I dunno, cause i think just maybe my battery was finally on its last leg. Cause i took it to get recharged to see if it had any left in it, but it didnt. So i bought a new one.


But i dunno still....

 

well if you the new battery goes bad just return it and say that battery sucked...then you'll know it was the alternator

 

Good call. Screw it. Hehe

 

1. sounds like an battery
2. sounds like an alternator too.
3. your battery cable could have come loose from the clamp. usually happens if you dont have a battery tie down in place. Check it.

if your not getting any cabin power its possibly number 3.

 

Yea i found out that it was the battery, but have a feeling the alternator may be bad. But for now will play with fire, and see if this fresh one dies in the coming weeks/months.

 

Do a load test, it will tell you if your alternator is going out. It takes like 5 minutes and is way better than having to call a tow truck because your car wont start.

 

Load test? Whats that?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by BolivianFuego &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Load test? Whats that? </TD></TR></TABLE>start the car.
take off the positive cable from the battery.
if the car struggles or cuts off then your alternator needs an alternate replacement lol.

 

No actually, i meant get a multimeter, put it on the battery with the car off. Should be approx 12 volts, steady. If it is, your battery is fine and youve got no drain. If its lower, you might need a battery. Finish testing though to make sure the alternator is charging the battery though. If its dropping youve got a drain. Then start the car, let it warm up. Once its warm, put the multimeter on the battey again. Should still be 12 volts, steady. Then get a friend, or very carefully open the throttle from under the hood (I say carefully because youre holding the 2 prongs of the multimeter on the battery with one hand, working the throttle cable with the other), and then see what the multimeter says while its got throttle. Should be approx 14 volts, i think its 14.35 or something. If its not, or it drops voltage, your alternator is dying.

If at any time youre getting numbers noticably higher than these (Lets say 15.5 volts on throttle, or 14 volts idle, something like that) then youll need to replace your alternator, and if i were you id replace the battery too. Overcharging a battery is one of the worst things you can do to it. I think the variance spec for the charging system is like .5 volts. I know my car even with a brand new alternator is still not exactly in spec as per the manual, but its only at most .2 volts out.