ok i finnally got ahold of my friends meter it i am going to see what some of my problems are. what are the voltages that i look for when testing my battery and to test the alternator all i do is have the car on while i test the battery, then turn on heat full blast and the high beams and read again. correct me if im wrong i tried to read up but have never done this and no one that i know knows anything about hondas

 

what are you trying to check for? If its just for battery voltage and to see if the alternator is charging, then it will be easy. The voltage at the battery should be around 12.6+ volts with everything off. Turn on the car and check the voltage at the battery again; voltage should be about 13.5-15 volts if the alternator is charging correctly.

 

well my batter was boiling last time i drove it. and i was going to check both battery and alternator. im pretty sure the battery is shot now just since it was boiling and wont keep a charge anymore. but i want to check the alternator also so i dont fry my new batter.

i was told that either my battery could have been bad and the alt could have just been constantly charging the bad battery causing it to get very hot hense the boiling and bubbling. also i was told that it could have been that the alt went bad and just kept charging causing my good battery to boil and go bad.

 

with the car running, no load, check voltage at the top terminal on the alternator and any chassis ground. should be 14.5V

battery should be the same when running.

if your battery boiled over, alternator is overcharging it. likely its pumping out more than 14.5V.

when mine did that, it was over 16V at idle.