ok, i have a b18a swap in my 89 dx crx. aside from a code 14 for my bad EACV, there's nothing wrong with it. But, it keeps dying. I replaced the alternator and the battery, but the battery just wont keep a charge. the car will run fine, then it eventually loses voltage and the car dies. Is there a wire i can check with my multimeter that comes from the alternator to see if it is sending power to the battery? like a power output wire? I have checked a ton of wires for resistance, and nothing has resistance above an ohm or so, so it doesn't seem to be a short...anyone know what else i can do to try to diagnose this?

 

are you using a fully charged battery or a completly drained battery? if you can get another car to jump your car, then let it sit for a while to build up some power.

 

I would check your grounds and see if there is a problem with them. Also if there is a place around by you that could check out the altenator and the battery I would see if they are both good even though you replaced them, did you replace them with new?

 

I replaced the grounds and both battery terminals. I now have 4 gauge grounds to body and transmission. I'm going to do the same with the valve cover to chassis grounds tomorrow. The alternator is brand new. I put the battery on deep cycle charge tonight so I will see if it holds a charge tomorrow. peace.

 

The alternator should supply 13.8 volts or higher when the engine is running. If it shows 12.8 or less then the alternator is bad (not putting out proper voltage/current). If it checks ok then turn on the lights, blower on high and see if the voltage sags below 12.8 then its still the alternator (blown diode or Regulator).

 

where is a wire that i can test coming from the alternator to see if it provides voltage? also, which wire is the alternator ground?

 

ok well i figured out that the alternator isn't getting a signal to send power out or anything. anyone know why this might be?

 

anyone?? anyone have any suggestions? maybe main relay?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by chad174 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">ok well i figured out that the alternator isn't getting a signal to send power out or anything. anyone know why this might be?</TD></TR></TABLE>
Maybe bad diodes as he stated above. Otherwsie check all your connections.
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">anyone?? anyone have any suggestions? maybe main relay?</TD></TR></TABLE>
No this wouldnt be a main relay problem now if you were having fuel problems then I would say look into the main relay.

 

Sounds like bad diodes to me. Another thing you can check if you find out it isn't the alternator is to put a check-light inline between your power cable and positive battery terminal, while the negative terminal is taken off. If you have something drawing power on the car that does not have a good ground, the light will come on.

 

wait....you replaced your alternator and the new one is doing it too? It's not bad diodes. It's an improperly grounded stereo system or something, I'll bet.

 

the same thing is with my integ.. it just had a engine swap a lil while ago.. when the car is on.. my turbo timer reads battery voltage and it would always read somewhere between 10-12 volts when the car is running.. sometimes it would reach as high as 13.. could that be a bad ground or possibly alternator?