I recently starting having what I think is a huge electrical short in my main wiring harness. The symptoms occur in this order:

tachometer goes wild, then dies
speedometer goes wild, then dies
car begins to hesitate and run roughly
interior lights start to dim
stereo fades out

What this seems to do is drain all power the alternator is providing, drain the battery of all charge, and still won't have enough left over to power the car. The battery goes dead in the process, and I usually end up having to roll-start the car, at which point the alternator will run and charge the battery back up again.

The short appears to be in the main wiring harness that runs under the intake and splits off into several directions. Fiddling with this can cure the short for a small amount of time, but inevitably it happens again. Today, my car won't start, and no matter how I arrange the wires, the short refuses to be fixed.

I was hoping to wait until I had the money to take it to a professional, but now the car obviously won't make it there.

Other suggestions made to me so far:
bad distributor, I don't understand how this would drain the batter and alternator charge simultaneously, though

bad alternator, but why would it work properly one second and fail the next?


Does anyone have any other suggestions or at least an idea of a place to start checking wires for cuts and shorts, given the evidence above?

 

Check carefully under the intake manifold around the brace. I've seen a few rub through there.

 

I'm looking.

So I've taken my intake and strut tower brace off, and we're playing with the wires... they seem okay if we pull on them, but let them go and they short out. I think it may be in the wires running from the alternator back over to the battery, but I'm not certain.

Another interesting detail is that my car can't be jump-started, though there is no obvious electrical draw from the source car.

Still searching...

 

I have a spare engine harness to a 94 accord lx. Let me know if you need it.

 

I sure will.

Will that work fine with all my accessories and whatnot?

 

If you consider VTEC, then no.

 

what motor do you have in your car?

 

F22B1 - See the sig?

 

Yeah I thought you swaped motors wasn't sure if it was the exact same one.

 

I did... I hydrolocked the old one and put in the same kind of engine since it was all I could afford at the time. But it's the same.

 

are your cables ok.. i mean they arent all corroded *spelling* dont flame
are you sure your getting a solid connection from the battery?

 

Yes, solid connection from the battery, no corrosion on cables. Tomorrow I'm jacking up the car and checking the harness that runs under the intake manifold to the battery from the alternator. I believe the problem is there.

 

I was thinkin you might have an ECU/fuel injector resistor pack problem but that's not gonna happen if you've got an identical motor.

 

its your altenator its bad and its going out

 

If it was my alternator, why would it work just fine one second, and not the next, when all I do is mess with the wiring on the other side of the engine bay?

 

Would something like this cause an odd crackling noise from the vicinity of the fuel rail when the 'short' is occuring? And would playing with the wires that run under the intake manifold cause it to stop?

 

sounds like it could be your alternator to me also. it still might be bad, even if it works intermittently. things break wierd sometimes, especially hondas. more often than not, when one thing goes out on a car, 19 other things break. or maybe thats just my luck. i would take the alternator out and bring it to autozone and have them test it (free). if you can drive it there, that would be better. while your at it, have them test your battery too. ill bet its one of those two things. if not, then youve ruled two things out yourself, instead of paying 40 buck for a shop to tell you the same thing... anyway, hope things work out.

 

Well, the battery is brand new, but I guess I can take the alternator in for testing. We don't have Auto Zones around here, only Advance Auto. Will they do the same test for free?

 

I'm sure they will.

 

mine was doing the same thing and it was my alt. going bad.
did you check the output of the alt. when the car was running?
it should have been putting out around 12.xx volts at idle and around 13.xx-14.xx
volts higher in the rpm range.

 

I don't have the equipment to check voltage. Well, I do have a voltometer but no freaking clue how to use it. I ripped it out a few minutes ago and I'm about to take it to Advance Auto for testing.

 

is the pulley loose at all?bearing inside the alt. maybe?

 

It didn't seem loose when I pulled it off. The belts were tight too. And dressed.

 

A lot of times it's the alternator contact/connection that's bad, not the alternator itself. This explains why it's a random problem. I don't see why your tach and speedo would act up though.
And as for your other question about the crackling noise near the fuel rail I have no clue.

 

See, that's why I thought it was a short all along. But perhaps if the alternator isn't providing power to the car, the battery can only power certain things, and the engine takes priority. My stero fades out at the same time as my tachometer goes nuts and dies, too.