Rep Power: 0

Hey guys, got a few issues I'm hoping you can help me out with!

The other night, my girlfriend was driving her 01 civic 1.7L when the battery light started going on and off, and the interior lights would dim. I thought this was the alternator, so when she got it home, I sat in the driveway at idle and turned eeeeverything on, A/C, radio, bass, blower motor, lights, etc to see if it would die, but it never did.

Insted, after I turned everything on but the blower, I finally did turn on the blower and the insrumentation (fuel, tach, spedo, temp) all dropped to zero... At the same time, turning the blower on shut the radio off. Turn the blower off, and the radio pops back on, but instrumentation stayed ''dead''.

Upon turning the car off, then back on, everything seemed normal.

It didn't do this while I drove it home from her hair dressor (she was too afraid it'd die on the highway lol). At this point, I saw nothing wrong with the car.

Am I looking for shorts? bad grounds? Anywhere I should start to look?

Or could this be the car's way of conserving electrical power for the engine use? (I have to admit, I'm a Volkswagen guy so I don't know much about Honda's)

Any help is greatly appreciated!!

 
Rep Power: 812

its definately a charging system issue. get the alternator and battery tested free at most auto parts stores. im betting the alt is putting out low amps, it should be around 70 normally.

 
Rep Power: 0

Thanks for the reply! I actually narrowed it down to the alternator (the problem kept getting worse. ran the car and watched the battery voltage start dropping). I figured this was a battery/chassis grounding issue, OR the alternator.

I made new grounds (couldn't believe how frayed and corroded the original grounds were) and it made no difference. Took the alternator out and brought it to advanced. They said under load, it puts out 10-12V, which is way low... So I assume theres a bad diode in the voltage regulator.

I understand the voltage regulators in Honda alternators is built in and non replacable?

I'll be picking up a new alternator tomorrow and throwing it in. I'll report back to say whether this fixed the problem or not (for future searches to this problem).

Thanks again!

PS. Since this battery has been deep cycled... 6(?) times now, I'm assuming its no good, correct? Its just some walmart/kmart battery anyway... IIRC every deep cycle cuts the life of the battery down 1/2 its life.

 
Rep Power: 0

After several days of tracking this bs down..... It turns out the power wire comming off the alternator was shorted out, which blew a fusible link in the main fuse box (one of the ones under two phillips head screws). Heh, who would've expected... I would think my Volkswagen would try to pull this kinda ****, not the Honda...