Hey H-t, just for reference I have a 88EF hatch with a b18c1 under the hood.

Here's the story:
I am driving on the freeway one day. ( It was raining so the radio, wipers, heater, and headlights were on) All of a sudden my car just dies. I didn't notice anything funny happen with the cluster when it happened. Anyways, I try to restart it and it turns over just won't start. The battery then goes dead after a few attempts (It then had an Odyssey battery)

I get it towed and there it sits for a few months in the WA weather. I was busy at college.

Then I got a little motivation and bought a new battery and relocated a regular sized one to the back of my EF. At the same time, I got the alternator tested and the guy a shucks said it was okay.

I put everything back on and the car starts right up! I drive it for about 5 minutes to make sure everything is working.

Then the car sits for another week and half ( I don't drive much at school) and won't start.

This time I took it to a mechanic and he got it running. His diagnoses was the distributor.

So I drive it home not using anything electrically related aka the radio, wipers, headlights. Runs fine.

A few days later I start it up just fine and take off. Not more than 10 mins had gone by before it died. The first signs started when I tried to get on it and the car bogged. It was raining and I had the wipers and headlights on.

I push it to the side of the road and try to start it..nothing. The battery is completely dead. So 15 minutes goes by while I'm trying to call someone and I try to start the car and boom it starts.

The wipers were moving slow and the lights were dim so I turned those both off. As I got closer back home the car started bogging really bad and almost died on me. Thankfully I got the car in my driveway right as it died.

Present:
I've searched and sifted through a lot of threads on here and other forums and here's what I've done:
-Took the negative terminal off while the car was running and the car died.
-Checked for any blown fuses, there were none.
-Tested the voltage on my battery while giving the car some gas, the voltage goes way down.
-checked for parasitical draws,none.

My conclusion thus far is the alternator is bad but I'm wondering how? I got it tested and it was fine. I don't want to spend money on an alternator if its not going to fix my issue.

Any other ideas on what it could be? Sorry this is long but needed to explain the situation.

 

First of all, never disconnect the battery cable while the car is running. Have you checked your main relay? You said you already checked for parasitic draw? I'd get your alternator rechecked

 

I had a light test and disconnected my negative, clipped the lead and grounded the point and the light didn't come on. AND no I haven't checked the main relay. I have had one go bad in a different car and it was because the car wouldn't start. Could the main relay be causing these symptoms? TIA

 

This sounds like your alt is not charging under a load. Also possibly parasitic drain

 

Sounds like alternator

When car is running it should have over 14 volts

 

Wat part of wa are u in? I could possibly help