I have a 98 civic hatch with a type r swap car was running great for a few weeks no lights on dash and no problems then a couple days ago my car died while driving it started to dim the dash lights and headlights and high idle so I pulled over shut it down and tried to start it again and nothing got jumped and car ran fine with the lights off but as soon as I turn them on it idles high again and starts to drain The battery I am lost at this point bc I've replaced the battery and the alternator and the belt I've checked all fuses and they r good ive checked my grounds and they are good not sure wht is going on so if anyone can point me in the right direction tht would b great oh ya my speedo and odo do not work anymore as well

 

Alternator not charging battery.

 

Test the alternator, you may have got a bad one. It happens.

 

Ya I was thinking I might have got a bad one bc when I checked for voltage at the battery with the car running it wouldn't go higher than 12.7 volts

 

Have both alternator and battery tested.

 

Def the alternator with that voltage with the car running. Where did u get the alternator? Should have some kind of warranty if purchased from a parts store (advance, autozone, oreilly...)

 

I bought it used from a performance shop near me trying to save some money bc all the new ones he had on stock were for the obd 1 plugs so I guess tht came back to bite me in the *** I'm working all day so I'm Gna get the alternator tested tomorrow and c how tht goes I will post back on this the results and go from there I'm hoping thts the only problem

 

So had my old alternator and the replacement tested both alternators tested good now I'm back to where I was and not knowing the the problem is

 

Still sounds like the alternator to me. It's obviously not charging the battery. I also didn't see where you got the battery tested.

 

I work at a Firestone I bought the battery there so I brought it back had it warrantied so I have another new battery both alternators tested good at advance auto but ur right the battery is still not getting charged the car runs fine and drives fine with the headlights off as soon as I have them on driving or not or hooked up or not the battery drains I was reading somewhere tht it could possibly b the ignition switch

 

Check ALL your grounds. Probably a bad ground not allowing steady flow of FULL current.

OEM crank pulley?

 

Yes it's the original crank pulley I have no a/c or power steering and I disconnected all the ground and reconnected still no change I'm stumped to b honest everything I've been told to check has been fine

 

I had a problem like that with my car (97 civic) after I changed the alternator. The problem for me was the black/yellow wire that is in the main wiring harness was broke off from where it connects to the alternator. Some guy before I bought the car had replaced that same wire with a green one. I managed to get it clipped back in to where the plugs attached so it charges my battery now.

You can check that wire. I hope it helps and you get your car fixed.

 

Have a full system test on battery and alternator it sounds like alternator.

 

Should just be an alternator .

 

It sounds like either a cable is at fault (bad connection or bad wire) or it's the alternator, as everyone is saying. Check all the connections and have the alternator tested.

 

Alternator test it

 

How old is the battery? and use a volts meter to see if your reading 14 volts with it running. If its low then its probably the alternator