Ok, quick background. It's a 90 CRX Si. I just installed a new (used) starter today since mine was grinding. I had the car out for a drive, and about ~40 miles into my driving, all of a sudden the tach dies, then the interior lights, then headlight, then the whole car died. My alternator and battery are only a year and a half old. Could I possibly have screwed something up while swapping out the starter to have caused this? The battery was out of the car overnight since I pulled the old starter out the day before (had the battery out for more room to work). I'm by no means a mechanic, or even mechanically inclined for that matter... Is there a way to test and see if it's just the battery? These are the exact same symptoms my car had when the alternator went. Shouldn't a rebuilt alternator last longer than 18 months? Any and all advice you could give me would be greatly appreciated-

Andy


[Modified by dra_co, 10:34 PM 7/26/2001]

 

Well you can try and see if your headlights turn on. If they do, your battery maybe ok. Make sure the headlights are bright and not dim.

When you left the battery out of the car, was it on the ground? The ground is the worse place for a battery as it sucks the power out of it. This maybe your problem...

If your alternator is working properly, jump the car and drive it around for a while. The alternator should give the battery some more juice.

 

ok what about an alternator belt? those sypmtoms could be that too.

 

Yes, the battery sat on the concrete ground over night. Doh, never thought of that. The part I don't get is that once I got everything back together, It started without hesitation a bunch of times (I was seeing if I had installed the starter properly). It wasn't until ~40 miles of driving it did this come about. That would have been ample time to recharge the battery if in fact it was drained, ya know?

As far as the alternator belt, well, it's still there... I dunno if it's at the proper tension or anything.

I jump started the car today, and it ran ok over to the shop, although I didn't use any lights, or stereo or anything. When I got it to the shop, which was about 4-5 miles away from where it had been sitting, I shut the car off and tried to restart it without jumper cables. It barely even tried to kick over.... not even close to starting. The only difference between the symptoms it's showing now and the problems I had before I had the alternator replaced a year and a half ago is that the battery light hasn't come on at all. Weird. Well, thanks for all the insight, any further advice would be greatly appreciated!

-Andy

 

"The ground is the worse place for a battery as it sucks the power out of it. "

i dunno. that dosnt make sence to me [electronics background with extensive theory in electronics]

how could the charge drain while sitting on the ground?

its encased in plastic
maybe if you laid it on the posts but comon concrete and plastic... dosnt sound too conductive to me.

i dont see how it being in the ground differs from being in the car. sorry i call BS

 

Yeah, i've heard the same thing about leaving batteries on the ground. But, i have never experianced one draining from sitting on concrete. . . . Maybe just one of those myths.

 

I say bad alternator.

 

Before you replace the alternator, check the 10mm nut that holds the black wire coming out of the alternator. that wire recharges the battery, and sometimes it can become loose and charge the battery intermitently.

It happened to me.

George

 

I agree with what you say to a certain extent. You are assuming that the battery cover is in perfect condition and not cracked. If there was battery acid on the cover leaking from the positive terminal, that could cause a problem too.

And concrete is the ground. If you have a positive charge and connect to the ground, a circuit should be formed...

The more I think about it, the battery wouldn't be completely drained if left on the ground, but some power could escape it.

Just some thoughts....

 

Alternators dead. Same exact thing happened to me.

 

Check and see if there is fluid in the battery?