rockbroad

Hey everyone, hopefully guys can give me some good advice!

Again this is for a 2005 honda civic lx...
I went to go turn on my car this morning for work and when I turned it on the battery charge indicator had turned on, it was not blinking, it just stayed on. I didn't leave any lights on or radio plugged in.Anyway, I decided to drive around the neighborhood, and after about two minutes the light turned off. I drove to work which was about a twenty minute drive, and as soon as i put my car in park, the battery charge indicator light turned back on.
My battery is less than a year old and i just replaced the alternator about 3 weeks ago.
The same issue with the battery charge indicator happened 3 weeks ago and thats when i replaced my alternator and the indicator hadn't came on at all until today.
Any idea what it could be???
thanks!!

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

the battery light is actually an alternator light. it comes on when the alt is not making enough power to keep the car running and charge the battery. if the light comes and goes, the alt is likely not completely dead but still making a little power (maybe 30 amps instead of the normal 70 amps). i would not drive the car til you get it fixed, and turn off all accessories so the battery lasts longer. it looks like whoever put in the "new" alternator either used a crappy brand or installed it wrong. cause its bad again, or the belt or connections are loose. most auto store alts (except napa) are garbage. i have seen many fail in less than a month.

rockbroad

Yep I bought the new alternator at O'Reilly's. One thing i noticed just now, I went to grab lunch on the rpm side (sorry i dont know much about cars) when it would go above 3 the indicator would turn off, when i went below it would turn back on. I was at a red light for a couple of minutes and took off and then the indicator went off completely.

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

yeah that is a classic case of the alt not making full power. when you rev higher, it will put out more amps than at idle (since the pulley and belt is spinning it faster). eventually it will become worse and the light will come on at all rpms and not put out any power. i would get it replaced as soon as possible because you are damaging the battery too. eventually the car will not be able to drive when the alt is done and the battery drains below 12v. i would recommend napa if you need something from the store; mine is going on 8 yrs now no problems. the oem went out after 2 yrs. napa is generally much better quality for aftermarket parts compared to autozone/oreilly. i learned this the hard way on my old car when i was going thru about one alt every month before it would fail. its not worth the slightly cheaper price you pay. the honda alt is pretty good normally too, maybe i just got a bad one. our 92 accord still has the original. ofcourse on the civics, the alts are so tiny that they can barely keep up with powering the car and any accessories you have on. so they tend to wear out faster than normal (even with the ELD which cuts off the alt when it is not needed).

anibis

Yeah I had a Duralast alternator (from AutoZone) last about 500 miles and it howled like mad. No wonder it was only $100 when everywhere else they were $200+. I ended up getting a salvaged alternator with 60k miles off eBay for $66 including shipping.

If money doesn't matter as much then I'd do what gearbox said and get one from Napa, they're around $225 if I'm not mistaken. A Honda alt will run over $500.

Or you could pull everything apart and replace it with the same kind at O'Reilly's. I would expect it to last longer than 3 weeks but not more than a couple years....

rockbroad

thanks for the input! just went and purchased one at NAPA , comes in tomorrow or thursday ...this sucks

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

if you need to drive the car, try and charge up the battery between drives with a trickle charger. it will give you a bit more time.