I changed out power steering belt and serpentine belt on 2005 Honda Civic. The first time was fine but I started hearing some belt noise a few times so tightened the serpentine belt.

Now, I noticed an issue with the trip meter. It adds up miles like normal and saves the info but when starting the car, it loses both Trip A and Trip B data and starts over at zero. I did a basic battery voltage test with multimeter and is 12.38 volts. I'm going to go tomorrow and get it checked at auto parts store.

So I'm thinking maybe the battery is low or something else. Has anyone experienced this?

 

Could be possible it's going bad, but another common problem is the alternator grounds itself through the mounting bolts, and you just loosened those to do work. Make sure your mounting surface area and bolts are clean and fairly tight, or you could be causing severe issues and may burn up your ECU. I would also recommend getting the battery tested after an overnight recharge to help narrow things down. I personally always wire wheel the paint off of alternator mounts and put grease on them when I'm messing with an alternator.

Was the 12.38 volts measured with any accessories or lights on? It seems really low. It should honestly be around 14v or so. Bad alternator could also be the issue, which could kill off your battery. It's like a suicide pact with those things.

 

Thanks.

I'm gonna check the wires on alternator.

The 12.38V reading was on car battery that was sitting in garage all day. My understanding is 12V would be completely dead battery but 12.7 V and up ok.