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Hi everyone thank you for reading! So a few weeks ago my car sounded as if it didn't want to crank right up as though the battery seemed low. When I purchased the vehicle back in February as a commuter the dealer had put a new battery in it.. so I figured maybe my alternator was going. Today I went an picked up another alternator and replaced the old one and jumped the car. It started right up and seemed to be running good but my Airbag light was on. I let it sit for a few minutes put the A/C on and then the battery light on the dash came on and the stereo light turned off. I turned the A/C off and let it run and the battery light turned off and the radio came back on. Ok. Thinking that the battery is still low on juice I start driving to NAPA to get my reimbursement for my old alternator. While on my way the radio light starts to flicker again and every time the radio comes back on I hear a whining noise (thinking it was maybe the belt rubbing) The car seemed to be running fine at first. Then that started happening. I turned around to head back toward home and wanted to see what would happen when I used the A/C again. Well almost every light on the dash went on and the car started losing power. I immediately turned it back off. I got onto my road when the car started flickering light again and now bucking almost like I was stepping on the break. I got it up my driveway and it died. It seems like the battery may be the culprit?? I let it sit for about 3-4 weeks before getting the alternator.

Prior to everything my engine light had come on earlier in the summer. I never looked into it as it was running fine and its an old car.. figured it was something stupid. Besides the engine light.. the only other light the was on was my TPMS light.

What do you you guys think. Ill try to post a video with this as well and pardon my French in the video lol I was pissed.

 
Rep Power: 367

get a battery charger and fully charge it and try again

car parts stores can test the alternator/battery before you go replacing them...

low electrical power also usually causes havoc in electronics and a Christmas tree lights up on the dash

keep in mind old cars can have wiring issues, test first

 
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These cars don't like aftermarket alternators

 
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Yea I think I'm going to get a multimeter so I can test the battery and alternator. After I made the post I went back out and cleaned off the battery terminals and re-attached. I jumped the civic again and it started up fine. I let it run for maybe 5-10 minutes and the radio light background started flickering again and it sounded like it was running rougher. So I just shut it off. Im curious if I just got a bad alternator. Ill try to test tomorrow and get some data and come back! Thank you.

 
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I was thinking this could be the culprit as well. After running the car today before it **** the bed I popped the hood and I could smell a slight burning smell as well coming from the area of the alternator. Either that or the belt isn't perfectly in their grooves.. but from what I can see the belt looks good. I got the alternator from Napa for my exact model year civic and it looked identical to what I took off the car which I'm sure was stock. The car has 163k on it.

 
Rep Power: 222

It's the fact that it's aftermarket that's the problem especially if it's a reman. Some people have had luck with new aftermarket.

 
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Yea I got an aftermarket reman from Napa.. any suggestions on where to buy an oem alt?

 
Rep Power: 222

Junkyard or honda. Maybe ebay.

 
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Welp the issue has been fixed and I should have gotten the charging system tested as stated above first. It would have been a simple fix with just the battery. Before taking out the aftermarket alt. that I installed I took the battery out and took it to auto zone where they tested it and it was trash. I got a new battery from them installed it and brought it to auto zone for the to test the charging system and everything came back good. Car ran normal as well. So I could have just replaced the battery and been done with it. Long story short never trust a used dealer when they tell you they put a new battery in the car prior to purchase. I think they cleaned up a **** battery and stuck it in the car. Thank you everyone for your response!