94 Dx "Mini Me" Shuts off, then won't start.

[KingJames37]

So I got this car about a month and a half ago. Was driving it without any problems other than a bad injector which I fixed and put brand new spark plugs in it. Well earlier this week my Civic gave me a problem when driving back to college. I might have been moving a little fast but all of the sudden the car just dies on me. My battery and oil lights flash on my dash and then I pulled off to the side of the road. I thought it was my aldenator so I called my dad to come pick it up. I came home later on that week and took the aldenator into autozone to get it tested and it passed, twice. So I bought another battery. This seemed to fix the problem for the moment. So I drove back to school a three and a half hour drive and it made it with no problems, other than a one slight shudder as if I left off the gas for a second. Then I was driving it around for two days, sometimes it had a rough idle. Today this person in front of me jacked their brakes so I had to get on mine hard, I thought I pushed my clutch it but it seemed as if it almost stalled. I was able to get off the highway and I tried to pop start it, and it wanted to but only started for about a second. All my electronics seemed to work so I tried to turn it on and it turns over it just doesn't seem like it wants to catch. My fuel pump primes, I tried to jump it, I checked some vaccum lines, I don't really know what the problem is. Everytime I get in the car and press the gas the check engine light comes on and when I let off it goes off. My oil is fine, it didn't blow up. I was thinking a possible relay or cleaning the IACV? Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[lethal6]

It's alternator...as in alternating current.

I would start with the check engine light. Run the codes. Google it to find out how if you don't already know. Also look at the connections to the battery/starter and the grounds to the chassis. They should be clean, tight, and free of any and all corrosion.

 

[KingJames37]

Are you sure? I just had it tested 3 days ago.

 

[lethal6]

Had what tested? I wasn't saying the alternator is bad, I was correcting you because you are calling it an aldenator which isn't a word.

Connections and grounds have nothing to do with a battery or alternator testing good. Without the right connection you could have the biggest battery still not crank a car.

A bad alternator won't cause a car to die or not to start. It will kill a battery that will cause those but by it's self won't cause that. You can unplug an alternator from a running car and it will run until the battery dies out. That shouldn't have been your first thing to go to, neither should have been the battery unless the car was slow to crank. Worst way to fix a car is to throw parts at a problem, especially if you have no idea what you are doing.

Run the cel to see if there are any codes. THAT should be the first thing you do when starting to diagnose.

 

[KingJames37]

I found out it was the ignition module. I put on a new one and it's all good now.