im having a problem with my car not charging. ive replace all the wires that i could. 3 different batteries, 2 ecu's, 2 main fuse boxes and 3 diff alternators. after all that i still only charge at 12.5 volts. when it should be like 14 something. the only thing i can think of is that maybe the msd 6a and blaster2 coil is drawing enough amps out that the alternator can't keep up. any help would be appreciated. thanks

 

i have a b16a with a dis6 and blaster coil and my afc neo reads 13.9v when motor is running

 

do you have a underdrive pulley for the alternator or crank?

 

i do have an under drive crank pully but i have swapped it back to the stock crank pulley and its the same numbers. So i swapped it back to the under drive.


As of last night i added more ground wires, thinking that might be the problem. But i just pretty much wasted my time cause it did nothing.


Modified by 1fast90civicsi at 5:47 PM 11/5/2007

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 1fast90civicsi &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">after all that i still only charge at 12.5 volts. when it should be like 14 something. </TD></TR></TABLE>

and when you measure the voltage, the engine is running right?

i also run a msd setup, and underdrive pulley, with no problems.

what else is happening? do your lights dim at idle? more details

 

yes i measure it when its running.

when im driving my lights dont really dim or anything but when i have the heater on it will drop the volts down to 10, when its on high. if i drive around like that long enough it will eventually dim my lights, make my water temp gauge, tach, and fuel gauge go crazy, cause its low on power. i tohught i had a bad ground in the dash at first when that forst started to happen but came to the conclusion that its just low on power.

if i had a regular battery im sure it would kll the car, but i have a red top optima in there.

 

all I keep thinking is another bad alternator (forth time is a charm). have you had just the alternator tested, out of the car, at a parts store or shop?

sounds crazy to get 3 bad altenators, so I doubt it.


how did this all start? one day your battery was dead, or car wouldnt start? do you have a short somewhere?

 

actually i think its been like this the entire time ive owned my car.

yeah i made them test to alt at the parts store before i took it home. they did the intial test on it then they did a load test and they both came up to 14.3 volts. im getting so mad it this im about to start replacing the wiring harness.

i think if i had a short somewhere i would have other problems with something, anything. but everything is fine.

 

i had the same problem with a PR3 (jdm b16) ecu. i put a PR4(LS) ecu in and it was fine...with the pr3 it would be like 12.3 till i hit vtec...lol i never found out for sure if it was the ecu or how i did the wires for vtec... what is your set up and have you tryed another type of ecu

 

ive tried a diff ecu, but it was still a pm6. one is chipped and the other is a virgin.

my setup is a a6/y8 mini me. i have an apexi vafc with the 2 wires going to it for vtec. maybe ill try my buddys pr4 tomorrow and see what happens.

 

what a weird problem! let us know how this turns out!

how do you like the a6/y8 mini me? was it what you hoped for or did it leave you wanting more? I'm contemplating the swap.

 

i like the swap. i chose the y8 over hte z6 cause of the differences on the way the dizzy bolts up. hacking up my dizzy just seems to be rigging things up, and i dont really like to do that. its a cheap and easy swap, for what i paid for the head it was worth the hp gain, in my opinion. yeah i want more power out of it. its pretty damn peppy right now cause its fully built with 10:1 srp pistons, but i had plans of a turbo but that fell through so im kinda i the market for a super charger so i can push 6 or 10lbs. i also have a 100 shot of nos that i just got that i will be using soon too, once i get the motor nice and broke in. only got 450 miles on the bottom end so far. so im hoping that with a jrsc with 6lbs, and a 100 shot i should be really close to 300 hp with a good tune. im just starting to learn the tuning aspects of things cause i just got my aem wideband installed this last weekend. i want to convert to obd1 and use a hondata s300 to tune it. maybe il get more than 300 but ill live if i dont. lol

 

I dont think it's your MSD.

What you might need to do is check out ur Helms manual for the car. The charging system section has a list of conditions which causes the alternator output to go from 14 volts to 12.5 volts. Looking at that list it has to be your ELD, intake air temperature sensor reading too low, or your starter switch is on all the time. Go through the troubleshooting steps there and see if they help.

Janos

 

well that was the first thing that came to my mind was the eld. so i replaced the main fuse box with a known good one and it didnt fix the problem.

i didnt think that i had a air intake temp sensor. if we do where is it cause ive never seen it before. if it was my starter switch being on all the time wouldnt it like be trying to start my car the whole time?

also i dont have a helms manual but i have the factory honda service manual, year specific and me and another buddy of mine went through it and still couldnt figure anything out. is there a helms online anywhere cause around here all we have is the chiltons and the haynes manuals. is there anways you could scan that trouble shooting area for me?

 

What are you measuring your voltage with?

I have a very inaccurate analog gauge on my a pillar. It reads 12-13 volts at 3K rpm. I hooked up my Fluke multimeter to the same source, and drove around.

The Fluke meter read 14.3.

The analog ones TEND to be a little inaccurate.

 

im using a craftsman digital multi-meter, when im not going anywhere. and then i do have an autometer volts gauge hooked up that reads the same as the multi-meter.

 

ok so the helms is the factory service manual. i have that but it still doesnt tell me much. it just says that if those things are on then it will be 12.5 volts. doesnt say how to fix the problem. oh i also just found out that we do have an air temp sensor. its on the side of the intake manifold.


Modified by 1fast90civicsi at 10:06 PM 11/6/2007

 

Have you had the parts store actually do a load test on the charging system with the car running? I had the same problem, brand new alternator from knecths, would only charge to 13.5v then would drop down to 11.7-12.2 when lights were turned on. I brought it back to them, they tested it on the bench, said the output was at 14.5. I reinstalled it, drove it there and they load tested it verifying that it was bad. Good thing for lifetime warrenty. Have you probed the white wire on the alternator and check voltage? Also check for a parastic draw by running your dmm (make sure its set to amperage) negative lead in a series with the negative cable (disconnected) and negative batt post/terminal. You should see little to no voltage.

 

well they did a load test on the alt when they checked it. they did the normal check first then they put a load to it. i replaced the intake air temp sensor and that changed nothing. im just wodering if im using too many amps and the alt cant handle it?

 

Hi my civic use to drain power all the time man it sucked it was because my engine compartment fuse box was bad i was getting a code 20&gt;

 

im not throwing any codes though. i dont think im actually draning power its just not charging enough.

 

i have heard that the OPTIMA batteries take a lot of power from the alternator to charge..try a regular battery

 

i just tried that and its still saying 12.5 volts. im pretty sure its not the battery.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by sasinorm01 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i have heard that the OPTIMA batteries take a lot of power from the alternator to charge..try a regular battery</TD></TR></TABLE>

he has tried 3 batterys already.

and btw I have an optima battery and I get 14 volts at idle

 

damn this is really starting to get on my last nerve. its getting cold here so if i have the heater on it will drain the battery so it dont start in the morning.