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Yep, it's the alternator.

 
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Well, I'm wondering how my wife can prove to them that it is the alternator that needs fixed and how we can get refunded all that extra money from the first incident. I wrote a letter to Honda Customer Service in Torrance, CA. Well thanks for responding.

 
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Well, since the battery is still dying and the alarm system has been disconnected take it back to Honda again. Tell them it can't be the alarm system since it's not hooked up.

 
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A short exists in the battery system somewhere. Energy drainage is occurring.

 
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I just wanted to throw in my 2 cents. first yeah, you have a problem with the alternator but it's not the battery itself, unless your honda dealer is like the one where i live, those guys didn't fix my car when i took it in, it didn't cost me anything but they still didn't fix it. All i have to say is make sure they do fix it, and if any one reads this that works for honda, FIX MY CAR WHEN I TAKE IT IN!!!!! thats what i have the warrenty for![IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif[/IMG]

 
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First of all there is no way you can diagnose a alternator problem from what was posted. What it sounds to me is that you have a energy drain on the battery after you turn the car off. Basically it like leaving something on overnight. The way to find a drain is to disconnect the posittive side of the battery and put a test light or volt meter between the battery post and positive cable wire. You shouldn't see a bright light on test the test light or over 2 volts on the meter. If you do leave everything in place and have someone pull the fuses in and out, one by one, until the light goes off or the voltage goes down. When the voltage or light goes off, look to see what that fuse powers and then maybe you can find that something is shorted out or not wired properly. A new battery even with a bad alternator shouldn't be stone dead the next day.

EDIT: if you do this make sure all the doors are closed and the ignition key is in the off postion, because you will notice a power increase on your meter or light when you open the door because the dome light switch is closed and making contact.

 
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hmmm... I'm not so sure it's the alternator that's causing the problem (like solar said).

How does the car run when you are actually driving it -- are the headlights, power steering, stereo and all electrical components working properly? I'm asking because if the alternator was not charging your battery, it is my understanding that some (or none) of these things would work at all, since all combined they take quite a bit of power to work.

If you can actually start the car again after about an hour of parking, then it's not the alternator that's giving you the problem, because in non-freezing weather, there is no real difference between parking 1 hour, and parking overnight, in terms of starting power from the battery.

Does it even crank at all when you try to start it? If not, then I think 02Si is right: there's a short somewhere in the battery system, cuz it's rare that a battery is drained to the point where it will can't even be jump started.

 
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can't you just disconnect the positive teminal and hook up an ammeter?

if the current is very high when everything is off, then you got a short somewhere...

if the current reading is not very high, then i guess you don't have a short circuit...

 
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btw, there was something in today's vancouver sun reguarding battery drain when car is off...it said something about upto around 50mA current draw when car is off....

i guess if you measure more than 50mA w/ the ammeter, you have a problem with a short...

 
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I had this problem and here's what I found: Using a clamp on volt/amp meter, I determined that I had a sustained 12 amp drain on the system whether the engine was running or not. The culprit? The rear defrost system. When I pulled the rear defrost relay, the amperage drain disappeared. When I re-inserted it, it returned. I swapped relays: same result. I unplugged the dash switch: same result.

For me this problem began after my voltage regulator went out on a long trip and I fried my battery as a result of a sustained over voltage situation. Hope this helps somebody. I've yet to determine where the short is (I suspect it may be in the defrost wiring on the rear window) but at least my battery isn't draining constantly when the engine is off.

Also, in my 97 Civic, there is no fused circuit for the rear defrost system. There is only a fused circuit for the rear defrost relay and pulling the fuse to this circuit did not eliminate the constant drain.

 
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Just browsing and read this response to an old post. I think you misread your meter. If you had a sustain drain of 12 amps something would definately be smoking and burning.