I've got a 1988 1.5L 4-speed manual hatch that I know needs a new battery, my uncle helped me jump it and while I was in the car after it had started I'm sure he had touched one of the jumper ends (probably positive) to the negative on my car while both ends were still connected to his and the Civic started going apeshit (his Honda van was fine). I'm not going to give him hell for it, this car isn't that important to me.

I shut it off and retried jumping with me doing the work and the parking lights were on even though I had them off, the headlights blew out (I just pulled them out and they were blown but the brights are still good), there was of course a faint burning smell that means all kinds of good things, and when I was driving it the battery light would light up when I'd get into higher RPMs.

I went through and checked all the fuses and they are good, I had another main relay around so I replaced that (not sure if those can fry), I jumped it tonight and it seems to idle normally and the parking lights aren't on by themselves but it'll run for a minute and then just die. I'm wondering if the alternator took a dump considering the battery light was on.

Where should I start with this? I know for sure the battery is shot, should I get a new battery and run with that or should I also take the alternator and have it tested? Considering none of the fuses blew I'm expecting the worst but it really seems to operate fine with the exception that it dies after a minute of running.

 

if the car can't stay running on its own the alternator is junk, replace that and the bat at the same time

 

have advance auto test the electrical system. if the alternator is poop they'll be able to tell you.

 

Probably killed diodes in the alternator. Change it!

 

The alternator was totally hosed. I bought a new battery and replaced the alternator and it runs fine. I think I've got a tad bit of a wiring issue because the passenger side front turn signal stays on even if the lights are off. I pulled the connector from the socket, connected a voltmeter, turned off the lights and it was getting a constant 14.4V with the lights off and when I shut the car off completely the voltage at that connector gradually drops. I've disconnected the battery in case that issue was going to put a drain on it.

So far I think the only other things effected were a rear passenger side parking light, front passenger side turn signal that now has an issue, and both low beams.

Any tips as to what kind of damage would make the light stay on would be helpful. I'm going to look through the service manual and try to track down any bad spots in the harness for the lighting.

 

Answered my own question from this thread:
https://honda-tech.com/forums/honda-crx-ef-civic-1988-1991-3/what-fuse-boxes-icus-interchangeable-2704877/

Fixed my stuck blinker by buying a fuse box (just needed integrated control unit) from a Pull-A-Part for $11. Kept my existing fuse box and put the good ICU in it.

For information sake: my hatch had an ICU with part number 38600-SH3-A011-M1 where as all other cars (not hatches) I looked in had 38600-SH3-A111-M1. I decided to buy the A111 part anyway because it looked the same and could only have more features than the A011 part. Sure enough, some more searching on the net and I find the A111 has intermittent wiper function so if you get the control **** to go with it you can have intermittent wipers on your lowly standard hatch.

I found that info here:
http://www.civic4g.com/index.php/for...t=2968&p=25470

Gonna try to put the beater back together tomorrow and it should be good to go!

All in all, the only stuff that failed was the ICU, alternator, and about 4-5 exterior lights.