Civic wont stay charged

[GuttaGutta JDM]

Ok so just bought a 1994 civic coupe has a sunroof but doesnt have an si badge or papers dont show thats its si, For the cluster theres no rpm guage in it just how fast your going and crap, Back to the point. I think its just the battery is really dead since it sat but i ran it home and dies instanly, boosted it and i took it around the bloack and same thing. so i charge it for a couple hours and still power for two seconds. The civic use too have a alarm system but i was told it got ripped out, the wires are ALL over the [place and ground wires are all over the engine disconnected and it makes me fraustred because im new for tuning and i want crap neat, do you think its the alram thing draining the power, the alram thing is in my back seat D,C Anyone know why???

 

[CHILD]

sort out that wiring, you could have something draining the battery from the bad wiring. I had a similar problem with a horrible radio install to where the deck was drawing power at all times.

 

[GuttaGutta JDM]

Yeahs theres wires all over the dam place in the engine one ground wire is huge but short not conected too anything also i dont even have a radio or nuffin lol do you know how i would get the wire stuff situatated?

 

[lethal6]

If the battery is shot, jumping/charging/driving will do nothing for it. Have it tested or just replace it.

 

[GuttaGutta JDM]

well twice i boosted it, ran it and it jut dies im charging it now as we speak but its not my altanator because when i had my civ running i took my battery out and it stayed running.

 

[evilrilla2]

well first thing first. test the battery, take it to autozone, leave it to charge for an hour, and they will let you know if thats the issue. if not, proceed to the next step. something is draining it.

 

[GuttaGutta JDM]

Ok, for me i'll have too go too wal mart or something since i live in nova scotia

 

[lethal6]

Who said anything about the alternator? If the battery is bad charging it will do NOTHING. Also if it is dead and you keep jumping the car and driving it, it WILL take the alternator out as well. Your alternator is working double time right now because of the bad battery and it won't handle that very long.

 

[GuttaGutta JDM]

i dono someone from where im from thought it was, and i only boosted it and drove it like 3 times thats it and i drove it around the block not like around town

 

[lethal6]

Lol. It's your car. Doesn't matter to me if you drove it a mile or 100. I'm just trying to throw the information out there.

It doesn't really matter how much you drive it. Every alternator is different. It could cook it's self in a block, around town, or on a longer trip. Hell, it could have already done if for all I know. Just throwing it out there so you can prepare yourself.

That is like saying, "I know it overheated, but I just drove it a block or 2." It's too late at that point and the damage could already be done or the bullet dodged and everything lucked out.

 

[CHILD]

how would the alternator work double time? Once the car is running, the alternator handles electrical output at that point, not the battery. It simply recharges the battery while its running. If the battery isn't properly charging, then the alternator could be causing the issue with bad diodes, blown fuses, or a short in the charging harness. But regardless, the alternator wouldn't be working any harder than normal. If the alternator was overcharging the system at some point, then and only then is the alternator working harder than it should be.
the OP is clearly not having an over charging issue.

 

[lethal6]

how would the alternator work double time? Once the car is running, the alternator handles electrical output at that point, not the battery. It simply recharges the battery while its running. If the battery isn't properly charging, then the alternator could be causing the issue with bad diodes, blown fuses, or a short in the charging harness. But regardless, the alternator wouldn't be working any harder than normal. If the alternator was overcharging the system at some point, then and only then is the alternator working harder than it should be.
the OP is clearly not having an over charging issue.

Because it is always trying to keep a dead battery charged and if the battery is toast there will never be a "full charge" point. Ever hooked a volt meter up to it when the battery is low/dead and the car is running? I actually had this problem recently and the voltage is VERY sporadic while driving. That is NOT good for it and it keeps a constant drain on the charging system trying charge the bad battery.

This is a quote directly from RonJ when he responded to my charging thread:

Think of it this way. If the alternator is outputting max voltage but the battery is sucking up the voltage for charging, the system voltage will drop lower than normal until the battery is fully charged.

That means that until the battery is fully charged the alternator is working it's ass off. With his battery being shot it will never reach fully charged and it will eventually take the alternator with it.

I have actually had it happen to me. The alternator went in my old work truck. It was a diesel and therefor had 2 batteries. The main battery ended up dying but because of the 2 batteries I never noticed until the alternator went from the extra workload.

 

[Cripton805]

I've never heard of an overloaded alternator...
Anyhow. Symptoms can be a bad alternator or battery.

 

[lethal6]

I've never heard of an overloaded alternator...

Very easy to do. 1)you have too much of a draw on the alternator (huge stereo, a bunch of accessories such as off road lights, big winch, generators, etc) or 2) the battery is dead and it is trying to correct it but it has that constant draw. Number 1 doesn't really happen to civics with the exception of the big stereo obviously.

 

[CHILD]

i get what you're saying, but i still have never seen that happen. I've had steady voltage while charging (car running) but then low voltage once the car was off and the battery wasn't charged completely or being drained prematurely by bad wiring elsewhere in the car. The only time I've seen an alternator work harder than intended was with bad diodes and it would spike high under acceleration.

 

[lethal6]

i get what you're saying, but i still have never seen that happen. I've had steady voltage while charging (car running) but then low voltage once the car was off and the battery wasn't charged completely or being drained prematurely by bad wiring elsewhere in the car. The only time I've seen an alternator work harder than intended was with bad diodes and it would spike high under acceleration.

What happened to me recently was @ idle (stop lights) it was around 13 volts, it would even go down to around 12, then when I would rev the engine it would jump up to 14.4v where it should be. It did so all the way home and after charging the battery on a battery tender, it didn't do it again. When it dropped to 12-13v that was a huge load on this little alternator.

With the car off the battery read around 10.5 volts before I brought the charge back up.

I've seen the bad diode thing as well. Cooked a battery in one of my bugs because the voltage in the alternator was spiking so high. That wasn't cool.

 

[CHILD]

gotcha