ian_red-zj

Hi all, first post in this forum! I guess I'll get right to it:
My step sister's 98 civic ex 5 speed is experiencing some issues. Yesterday she was driving when the gauges, headlights and electrical components started flickering and then went out. She parked the car at a friends house and wasn't able to start it again. I went by today with jumper cables thinking it would need to be jumped, but it started right up! Radio, headlights, gauges, everything worked fine. Then after driving for 5 minutes the gauges spazzed out and died and the radio became staticky on every station. It idled fine in neutral at a red light and continued to drive normally without stalling or anything. When I got home (2 miles or so) and tried to park it, I noticed all power was gone to the radio and lights, and the car stalled in neutral and would not start again. Help please?!!

ezone

Is the battery dead or nearly dead now?

Jump start it. Does that make it run again?

Is the alternator working or not?

ian_red-zj

I will try to start it again when I get home, but what confuses me is that it started without a jump today after not starting yesterday. The battery couldn't have charged by itself over night... I'll take it to get the battery and alternator tested tomorrow to rule that out.

ezone

A good battery can recover SOME power when the load goes away, that may be why it worked again.


Example: flashlight that's been on a long time goes dim, you turn it off a while...... then when you turn it back on it's brighter than it was.... But not for long.

ian_red-zj

Yep it needed a new battery. Thanks!

ezone

Ok....but is the alternator any good?