Bad Alternator?
#1
"Marge, anyone could miss Canada! All tucked away down there."
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: Barrie, ON Canada
Posts: 9,002
Received 1,127 Likes
on
942 Posts
Rep Power: 191 Bad Alternator?
'99 civic auto y7.
Girlfriend's car died on her sitting at an intersection waiting to turn left. She was able to get it restarted and move a couple feet, then it died again. Restarted and died a couple more times before she was able to get through the lights and pull into a parking lot.
Apparently the battery light was on during the dieing and restarting attempts.
I left work to go meet her and get the car back home.
Car starts fine for me a few times, no battery light turn on a bunch of loads and everything seems fine.
Get the car home (maybe 5 min drive) shut it off and put my meter on the battery: 12.99v.
Start the car with no loads and get 14.5v
Then I turned on everything electrical that I could at once (blower, rear defrost, mirror defrost, stereo, all the lights, high beams, four ways, brake lights, heated seat (cigarette lighter)
Checked the meter a few times and it was dropping every time I turned on more loads as expected. Got down to 12.5v.
Then after a couple minutes with everything still running I checked again and it was down to 12.2v
Shut the car off and the voltage went back up to over 13v.
Checked 10-15 mins later and it's down to 12.8v
Battery is a little over a year old.
Do you guys think the alternator is on the way out?
I haven't noticed the lights pulsing, or belt noises.
Any help is much appreciated
Girlfriend's car died on her sitting at an intersection waiting to turn left. She was able to get it restarted and move a couple feet, then it died again. Restarted and died a couple more times before she was able to get through the lights and pull into a parking lot.
Apparently the battery light was on during the dieing and restarting attempts.
I left work to go meet her and get the car back home.
Car starts fine for me a few times, no battery light turn on a bunch of loads and everything seems fine.
Get the car home (maybe 5 min drive) shut it off and put my meter on the battery: 12.99v.
Start the car with no loads and get 14.5v
Then I turned on everything electrical that I could at once (blower, rear defrost, mirror defrost, stereo, all the lights, high beams, four ways, brake lights, heated seat (cigarette lighter)
Checked the meter a few times and it was dropping every time I turned on more loads as expected. Got down to 12.5v.
Then after a couple minutes with everything still running I checked again and it was down to 12.2v
Shut the car off and the voltage went back up to over 13v.
Checked 10-15 mins later and it's down to 12.8v
Battery is a little over a year old.
Do you guys think the alternator is on the way out?
I haven't noticed the lights pulsing, or belt noises.
Any help is much appreciated
#2
"Marge, anyone could miss Canada! All tucked away down there."
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: Barrie, ON Canada
Posts: 9,002
Received 1,127 Likes
on
942 Posts
Rep Power: 191 Re: Bad Alternator?
Figured it out, the cheesy battery terminal clamp wasn't gripping the negative wire properly any more
Thread
Thread Starter
Honda Civic Forum
Replies
Last Post
fusion158
Mechanical Problems/Vehicle Issues and Fix-it Forum
9
12-01-2012 06:25 PM
JanThorCro
I.C.E. (Audio) & Electrical Upgrades
4
05-16-2012 11:18 AM
Glenn...
Mechanical Problems/Vehicle Issues and Fix-it Forum
2
01-30-2011 02:48 AM
xd2005
I.C.E. (Audio) & Electrical Upgrades
3
05-27-2007 05:00 PM