I have a 97 B18C Type R swap into my 97 EX. It was all running perfectly fine for about 6 months then I started to have some battery problems. The battery would go dead, and I would charge it back up and it would work for another 2-3 weeks before it would go dead again. Then it started to go dead in a day, so i had it checked out. Advance Auto Parts told me my alternator was dead so I took it to my local shop who put a remade JDM ITR alternator in it (new was $1,000?!?!) I picked it up and drove it to a few places, then my battery was dead again, so i took it in and got a new one. (top line duralast) and now I am still seeing the voltage drop. They tested it again and the alternator was applying a minimal charge to the battery at idle. The guy said it failed on one of the two tests yet passed on the other, I couldn't tell you what ones anymore. I am running 2 amps for my stereo system with a cap. Could it be possable that the stock alternator isn't giving me enough amps? If that is the case, then how could my stock civic handle it? Could it be a wire harness problem? I have been getting some issues with a few sensors (Primary O2 heater, Engine Temp.) have been going a little screwy. If you have any ideas that might be helpful I would greatly appreciate them all.

 

hmotorsonline.com will sell you a used jdm alternator for 50 bucks, low voltage can cause more issues than one might imagine. try that, see how the rest goes. vatozone 90% of the time sells junk. every now and then something is alright like temkin bearings or what have you. their house brand stuff is made as cheap as possible.

 

also check the wireing to the alt. as far as your system, If you dont have a cap I would get one and make sure your power supply and ground wires are same size.

 

I tryed to call hmotorsonline and they said they didnt have any alternators... and yes I do have a cap, I am wondering if that could be bad, because i am noticing a drain in voltage as the car sits with nothing on...???

 

the car should be just under 12v with everything off and 14.4 while running. you need to see if there is amperage draw while it's off. voltage means ****

 

Ok, so it was a bad capasitor on my sound system. Thanks for the help and speedy replies