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I just found this web site and im hoping you guys can push me in the right direction.
I have a 2001 civic. in the last 4 months its developed a problem somewhere in the electrical system. the car will run perfect with no issues..Ill park it, and a few hours later i'll walk out to leave and nothing....ZERO power to the car. no locks, no dash lights. its like someone took the battery out of the car. if you turn the key sometimes you will get the odometer to start flickering super fast..but theres nothing else. this will happen about once a month, for no reason, out of the blue. I have to call AAA to come tow it...every time they come, they check the battery and the alternator and say both are working fine, but they cant not jump the car....theres just no power even when they put the jumper cables on....so....we leave the car...and several hours later we will come back and POOF..the cars running like nothing ever happend and it will do so for about another month till it does it again.

Ive talked to my mechanic and he says unless he can get the car to mimic the problem there is nothing he can do. it throws no codes..theres no lights on or check engine lights..however the radio is not working because we dont have the code to put in it.

PLEASE tell me you guys can help. its WICKED stressful not knowing if your cars going to start every time you get in it.

 
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It sounds like a alternator issue even if they do say the alternator is fine. Though check out the negative cable on the battery and check the grounds out on it.

 
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Zero light is totally odd, I dunno what to tell ya. OK weak battery blah-blah won't crank, but STILL u should have *some* dash light. Does the car have a master breaker, 'coz that's the only thing I can think of, but can't think of why there would be such a breaker in a car.

 
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well, my thinking leads me to the computer. maybe its slowly crapping out. even when the car was dead, the battery showed full voltage. the dome light wont even work when its like that. its like theres no battery in the car at all.

I thought maybe a bad ground, but if that were the case it would happen every time i drove the car, not every few weeks. I can bring it to autozone and see if they will test the alt. again. I dunno...Im at a loss

 
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Then ur assuming "bad ground" = disconnected ground. What if "bad ground" = floating ground meaning when loose cable, corroded contact etc and depending on vibration makes good enough contact to go, then shake it enough, not enough contact... unfortunately sometimes problems are not yes or no.

Why do u suspect alt? blame alt not charging batt? but the tow guys told you the batt was OK. And u didn't say u charged it everytime (on a bench) b4r it would go again.

Actually this is somewhat ez to troubleshoot for me. Firstly total electrical failure means batt to ground is a major suspect. This is ez enough, there is more than one cable that goes directly from the batt to chassis, trace it, disconnect, clean contacts, re-connect.

If still problems, look up the wiring schematic. The car has many "rails" of +12V, every one protected by a breaker or fused. Notice where these points are, have a voltmeter at the ready in the car, so when it happens, wif out the voltmeter and see where ur not getting any voltage, or low voltage.

Computer suspect? OK am a bit old timer, but I seriously doubt even with modern cars, they're controlling the dome light via the computer.

 
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the reason i blamed the computer was just the spuratic timing. like clock work..its almost once a month. but bad ground was my first guess, but found it odd that it does not do it more is it is a loose wire.
I didnt question the alt. 02civicSI said something two posts up about it so i dunno. at this point i would question everything. lol I will have to get in there and clean up all the grounds and see if that helps. its a good start...and a cheap one to boot

 
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ok, so i finally got the chance to look at the car....now keep in mind..i dont have a friggin clue what im doing with cars.

I pulled the battery out of the car, air intake and such. I could only see one wire going from the batt to the tranny. one ground going from the block to the radiator support and the power wire going into the fuse box. I pulled all said wires off and both the bolts and wires seemed like they were having a decent connection. still...I sanded them back to raw metal, and also the body where the bolt screws into. wiped everything clean and reassembled

also, pulled the fuse box cover off and check all the fuses and pushed them all down tight to make sure they were solid.

how many ground wires did i miss?, and does any one else have any ideas the car could be dyin?