Hey guys, I have been searching all over honda tech but haven't found a solution to my specific problem. I have a 95 del sol, with b18c swap. What happens is when I am running several accessories at the same time the rpms drop, like headlights and rolling the windows down will drop them pretty bad, or having the stereo on and the engine fan kicks on I have had it kill the engine, the interesting thing is the check engine light isn't on constantly but when there is a power draw it glows, or will flicker to the pulse of the turn signals for instance, I've never heard of that.

I took the car to a shop and they tested the alternator and battery and they said both were reading perfect and they couldn't find the problem. I have since checked some grounds around the engine bay and cleaned them etc, but it didn't help.

I heard on here that this issue can be caused by a fuse that is too large of an amperage, is that possible? I have done that on a couple of them when I didn't have the right size, like a 10A to a 15A.

Just looking to see if anyone knows more than I do and can save me some trouble shooting time, I am getting ready to check the fuses next.

Thanks.

 

mystery car..... coooool!!!!!!!! ELD, electric load detector.

pull the codes to be sure that is what is malfunctioning.

to replace it you must replace the fuse box under the hood.

-chris

 

You need to edit your first post to include car information.

I question this^ conclusion.

Have another shop test the alternator or do it yourself using a multimeter.

 

I'd go with the alternator too. Sounds like it cant keep up with the load. it may test fine under light electrical load, but when lots of stuff is turned on it cant produce the amperage . . I would try another one if you have one, or can get your hands on one cheap.

 

+1 Sounds like you need a high output alt, or consider adding a capacitor or 2 to help with you aftermarket stereo needs.

 

guess I read it too fast to absorb this.

I agree with ron... sorry for the misinformation.

-chris

 

He says the engine light glows or flickers . . . a good sign of low voltage.

 

Judging by his cardomain link , he has a del sol.
Can't view his mods list on my tab, it just keep bouncing.

 

check engine light or alternator light?

 

Crap, my bad! Updated post, It's a 95 del sol, b18c swap, hondata s300.

The ELD being bad sounds plausible, I read up on it and it sounds like it tells the alternator how much voltage to produce? If it were running minimum all the time then that would explain why the alternator might have tested ok at normal load and so they didn't see a problem, but under load it wouldn't be able to keep up with the voltage strain. If it were a bad ELD would it throw a CEL code?

 

Oh ok, good to know, I've never heard of a check engine light glowing before, I assumed that's what it meant but wasn't sure. Any idea why the check engine light would do that even though the battery light never lights up?

 

Check engine light, the battery light has never came on for some reason, even under heavy electrical load when I was testing.

 

I have heard alternator tests can be somewhat unreliable, I think I will end up testing it myself like you said.

 

Alright just finished testing the battery and alternator myself here is the results:

1. Engine off 12.45V
2. Engine idling with no electronics on 14.34V (Check engine light didn't glow at all)
3. Engine Idling with High beams, Max A/C, Rear defrost on 13.71 (check engine light starting to dimly glow the longer I run it like this)

And finally I did one with all electronics on, high beams, Max air, Stereo, even hazard lights and it hovered around 13.52 plus or minus .1 because of flashing hazards, at this point the check engine light was a solid glow and flickering brighter as the hazards flashed, engine idle was fairly consistent (around 800 - 1000 rpm I think, it hadn't at this point reached operating temperature) it sounded a bit strained but it didn't attempt to die or anything.

 

Monitor voltage when the car is experiencing the light flickering issue.

 

While I tested 2, 3 and 4 I left the multimeter hooked up for a bit and monitored, it hovered right around the numbers I gave and didn't vary much at all, even on 4 when it sounded a bit strained it would hover from 13.51 to 13.57 ish

 

Did you notice the CEL flicker issue during the test?

 

Yeah, on 2 there was no glow or flicker, 3 it started glowing and got a little brighter the longer I left it, and 3 it was glowing bright and flickering with the hazards (brighter when the hazards lit up).

 

Did you jump the service connector to check for codes?

 

Not recently, the check engine light hasn't actually came on, it just glows or flickers with electrical load. I'll go check it real quick just to make sure though.

 

Just tested, didn't throw a single code, this issue is driving me nuts!

 

If only the CEL flickers but not other lights, then the ECU could be the problem. Do you have another to swap in for testing purposes?

 

Unfortunately I don't, that would suck if that's the issue. Do you think an ecu issue would cause the car to die when there is too much electrical load? I know very little about ecu issues so I don't know what symptoms it could cause.

 

The ecu would detect the high output and throw a cel.

 

I wonder what issue would cause these symptoms while at the same time not tripping any CEL codes. I think I'm just going to run the car until something happens, I may look around at the wiring a bit to make sure there aren't any bare ones but besides that I have no idea what to check next.