I'm new and I need help

[chillaxemurderer]

Hey, this is my first post on any auto forums. I'm young, I don't know much about cars, and I need help. I drive an automatic 1998 Civic DX coupe and a few days ago when I went to start it nothing happened. No noise (except for a single click), no struggle, it just did nothing. I assumed it was a problem with the battery, and I had someone help me jump it. The jump worked, and I took it to autozone and had them test the battery, they said it was fine but it needed to be charged. The next day I dropped it off and had it charged, when I came back home and put the battery back in, everything seemed fine. I went to get gas, and my car died just as I pulled into the gas station. I managed to get it started up again by giving it some gas as I turned the key, assumed it was out of gas and my fuel gauge was inaccurate, and filled it up. it started again no problem. Then on my way back, it died again in the street. I tried to start it back up again multiple times, and it just kept starting and immediately dying again. Sometimes I could keep it up for about thirty seconds, but it would just die again before I could even get it moving. I had no idea what it could be at this point. Someone pulled up next to me and offered me some advice, saying that I should try keeping my foot on the gas constantly while driving to keep the engine running. That worked, and I was able to get it home by keeping the gas flow constant. I have no idea what this could be, but people have told me it could the spark plugs, or something to do with the fuel pump/filter. This is my first car and I'm completely lost and frustrated, please help me out. What could this be? I'm sorry for such a long post, but I wanted to be specific about the problem I'm having.

 

[mymmeryloss]

Alternator

 

[bairdandrew77]

Alternator

Sent from my SGH-T399 using Tapatalk

 

[pantyraid]

^ what they said


If you want to double check that that's the issue you can get your alternator tested for free at advance auto, and probably any of those stores (auto zone and whatnot)

 

[mc360]

Sounds like the alternator but don't you guys think the car would have quit starting after a few tries? Usually if it dies while driving it's lost the alternator and drained the battery. I think something else could be going on

 

[mymmeryloss]

Sounds like the alternator but don't you guys think the car would have quit starting after a few tries? Usually if it dies while driving it's lost the alternator and drained the battery. I think something else could be going on

Nope. Alt charges the battery. Car will start and run off of the battery until the battery dies.

Alternator

 

[xxBLOOD88SHOTxx]

The guys at autozone didn't check and see if the alternator was charging the battery? "The battery is fine but isn't charged and is just came out of running car" f**king idiots.

 

[mc360]

Nope. Alt charges the battery. Car will start and run off of the battery until the battery dies.

Alternator

Um that's exactly what I said..... if the car dies while driving then that means the battery has ran out of juice and cannot continue powering the ecu to run the vehicle, if this happens your damn sure not getting it to restart by holding the gas like the op states. I have had a few alternator belts break or come off and then the car ends up dying when it sucks the battery dry then your stuck

 

[xxBLOOD88SHOTxx]

Is everything dying inside the car when this happens?

 

[darr alaniz]

if it starts up after dying multiple times its not the alt, if the batteries drained enough to die from alt not charging it wouldnt start back up, you got another issue there

 

[lethal6]

If the car needs to have the gas pedal held down for it to run and is cranking just fine while doing so, the battery and alternator are fine. Battery probably died because of all the cranking.

Tell me, why would the car need the gas pedal held down to run if the alternator is bad? If he is having to keep fuel forced through the system and it dies when the gas pedal is released, it is a fuel starving issue. Most likely a dying fuel pump or something with the injector(s).

This:

Um that's exactly what I said..... if the car dies while driving then that means the battery has ran out of juice and cannot continue powering the ecu to run the vehicle, if this happens your damn sure not getting it to restart by holding the gas like the op states. I have had a few alternator belts break or come off and then the car ends up dying when it sucks the battery dry then your stuck