Ok so i installed a new rad, my jdm headlights, and some new rad hoses the other day. Everything worked just like it should. I did spill a little bit of coolant on the alternator. Take note this is the only thing i could think of that could do damage and even that i can't see doing anything.

So i drive my car to work this morning. Everything works. Drive it some more during the day, once again everything works. Now after an hour of doing arrands i stop at a store. When i get back in my car i start it up and it hesitates and sounds like there is no battery life. It turns over and starts though and i think "oh ****, my alternator is fubar'd."

So i drive to honda to get some new coolant (running water for 1 day after the rad install). When i try and start it does not start at all. The starter is clicking, the battery is not dead (new) since the lights and stereo still work and the dash lights are not at all dim. I went into honda and got a booster pack. It fired right up. When i turned the car off, once again dead.

It has battery, it has spark, it has fuel, it just won't start. I am going to try and boost the car when someone can bring their car to boost me and i will pull the - terminal off the battery and see if it dies. If it does then the alternator is the problem.

What do you guys think? i am pretty pissed off since i need to get to work tomorrow at 9 am. Help me guys, please.

 

I should also mention the only ground i touched was the ground for the battery and it is grounded.

 

check the green plug that goes into the alt. mine did the same thing for awhile and i finally realized the plugs o-ring had come loose and was lodged in the alt. that may or may not be the answer your looking for but it worked for me

best of luck!

 

i'll make sure to check that out. I am going to test the battery to see if it is dead. If it is i will be really pissed since i got it at a shop and have no clue if they will honor a warrenty. To top it off that shop won't be open until monday

 

whats happening when it won't start???

Your mechanical starter is clicking, but it just won't turn the motor over????

So, it will only start though with a boost now????

If you do get it running, use a multimeter and see how much voltage is chargine at the battery. Rev it a bit and see if voltage fluctuates a lot. It will fluctuate a little, but optimally, it will never change more than 2 volts or so. Also, when starting/cranking, see how your voltage is dropping (you'll need a helper to crank it while you watch your battery voltage).

Oh, check your connectors at your coil pack too. Pull them out, and put them back in making sure they are secure. It sounds kind of like you have an intermittant problem so it could just be loose connections or grounds somewhere.

If you get some voltage numbers (at starting and than running) come back and post them, and maybe I can help you out.

If it is coolant in the alternator, thats bad though. If it created any shorts (electricity jumping accross the fluid) that could result in welds so to speak accross coils. You'll know if theres shorts though if you see excessive sparking while its running. So if you can get it running, check for sparking in the alternator.

Good luck bro

 

there was no sparking in the alternator. It was running when i left honda and i looked around in the hood for about 5 minutes. I'll does those tests hopefully later tonight and post the results. Thanks.

 

if it doesnt start with the battery alone but it does with a booster it sounds like the battery

 

yah but the battery has enough power to open the sunroof, play the stereo etc. Every dead battery have seen can't do any of that or barely does and if it does it normally has enough to crank the car over. Oh well

I am going to hook my friends battery up to my car and see if that works.

I check the alternator and everything is hooked up right, ground is good as well. Checked the battery ground a second time and the tranny ground and those are good.

The battery light in my car is on. Just noticed that but it wasn't while i was driving. I can't remember if it is suppose to stay on for a few seconds and then turn off or if it stays on until the car is started up. Which one is it? if not then yah i think the battery may be pouched.

 

if the car is off but electricals are on, it is totally normal for battery light to be on (like when u stall)

 

ok, i was stressing about how i would get to work since it is a pretty long drive and my cities transit sucks ***. Told my friend to drive over and we installed his civic battery. The car fired up like a charm.

So this morning i went out and bought a new battery. Car is driving fine. I am still wondering though if it is just running off the battery power and not the alternator. It might be all in my head but it feels sluggish. Is their a way to test the alternator to see if it is still in top shape or on its way out?

 

Only by doing the charging tests I dipicted above. If while your reving it, its maintaining a voltage on your battery around 13 volts, than your alternator is fine.

Like I was also saying though, cranking your car takes a shiet load of AMPHERAGE. Your window motors, sun roof motor, and stereo don't take huge amouns of current to run. In other words even if you have 11-12 volts at your battery, it still doesn't mean that the battery has enough current to turn your starting motor though.

You could take it to a diagnostics shop though to make sure its working properly. They might charge up to an hours labour (for only 10 seconds of work lol), but it might be worth while to protect a 100 dollar battery.

Either way test your running voltage and see if it flutcuates alot while reving, and idling. If not, your old battery just couldn't store enough current. Cells could have been fukied.

 

doesn't autozone, napa, etc test alternators for free? I know i didn't have to pay to have mine tested at the local gas station.

Remember to turn on your headlights, heater fan, rear defrost, etc before doing the test.. Make that baby scream.. If you are having alt issues, you will be below 12 volts in no time

Water is not good for alternators, but it is not certain death... I mean, it doesn't exactly stay bone dry under the hood when it rains

 

ok, i was an idiot and bought a new battery before doing the diagonostic tests. My battery was fine. it was my alternator. So now i have 2 dead batteries and a dead alternator. I guess it is fine, i am picking up my friends old one since he wrote his lude off last summer.

Will an f22's alternator fit on an h22?

 

bump for answers on the alternator, i need to know very soon

 

Those batteries might not be a total loss. Put them on an over night trickle charge. They probably are just super dead/drained. They should* be salvagable.

 

Sucks, man. I did the same thing a couple months ago when degreasing the engine bay. Totally fried the Alt.

I hope you were able to learn a lesson and by stuff with warrenties on it. I know you live in Canada and have no autozones, but you should have something like it, where they warrenty their products. Cant tell you how much money I saved by having the warrenties.

 

yah it has a 2 year warrenty. i got it from part source (part of canadian tire, canadas autozone equvilent), hopefully they will refund me my money.

This is really weird. My car has started to work again. i was about to get a new alt from a friend and it just started to work all of a sudden. has for the last 2 days. I still have my jumper cables in my car just in case. Hopefully it just fixed itself and stays that way.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Prudz_lude &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> Hopefully it just fixed itself and stays that way.</TD></TR></TABLE>

It will never be that simple

 

you can pull your alternator and bring it to napa, or autozone and they can test it w/ no charge. If they say it's good then it could be some wiring issue that goes to the alternator or battery.

 

i'll take it to napa and see if they can test it for me. I don't want this to keep happening. So far 1 1/2 days it has been good