Honda Car Forum

Hi guys and gals here I am again with yet another question regarding my 96
Civic.
I will go ahead and repost my prior question and sitrep concerning therof
so I may as well go ahead and do it,Here 'tis:


Ok here goes,


'96 civic DX 5 speed,I was driving into work this morning and had the wipers
on,headlights and defog.My dash lights started (how do I explain this)
acting like they were almost blinking like my emergency lights.Headlights
were doing the same thing.It was raining out at the time.I kinda think it's
my alternator going up on me or the belts are loose.Any thoughts on this?Oh
yeah the speedometer was jumping around like a monkey on crystal meth going
from 20 to 100 to 30 to ...you get the picture.
Thanks in advance,
Will


PS I had a prior question about whether my speed sensor or speedometer was
going up on me,it WAS the speed sensor.

<2 weeks later>
OK,I went ahead and pulled the alternator(it was a bitch BTW)went ahead and
bought a new one and installed it today.I went to go and start it up,when I
turned the key no dome lights no click no nuthin'.I went and got my next
door neighbor and see if he would give me a jump start tried that,still
nuthin.I checked everything.I mean there's only 2 connections to the
alternator and I made sure they were good cuz I hooked them up myself.Am I
missing something here? Maybe a wire got broken in the process of me dicking
around trying to get the alternator outta the engine crate?I dunnno.Guess
I'll go back and trace my steps after work tommorow.
Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions,

Will

Sounds like it may be ECU related. I think the computer controls the
speedometer but run an alternator test on it at any autozone or a mechanic.
If the belt is slipping it will make the lights and everything go up and
down in power.

-Jeff


"OICU812" <oicu8122@emailaccount.com> wrote in message
news:rKOdnehEOtbMN8DfRVn-og@adelphia.com...
> Hi guys and gals here I am again with yet another question regarding my 96
> Civic.
> I will go ahead and repost my prior question and sitrep concerning therof
> so I may as well go ahead and do it,Here 'tis:
>
>
> Ok here goes,
>
>
> '96 civic DX 5 speed,I was driving into work this morning and had the
> wipers
> on,headlights and defog.My dash lights started (how do I explain this)
> acting like they were almost blinking like my emergency lights.Headlights
> were doing the same thing.It was raining out at the time.I kinda think
> it's
> my alternator going up on me or the belts are loose.Any thoughts on
> this?Oh
> yeah the speedometer was jumping around like a monkey on crystal meth
> going
> from 20 to 100 to 30 to ...you get the picture.
> Thanks in advance,
> Will
>
>
> PS I had a prior question about whether my speed sensor or speedometer was
> going up on me,it WAS the speed sensor.
>
> <2 weeks later>
> OK,I went ahead and pulled the alternator(it was a bitch BTW)went ahead
> and
> bought a new one and installed it today.I went to go and start it up,when
> I
> turned the key no dome lights no click no nuthin'.I went and got my next
> door neighbor and see if he would give me a jump start tried that,still
> nuthin.I checked everything.I mean there's only 2 connections to the
> alternator and I made sure they were good cuz I hooked them up myself.Am I
> missing something here? Maybe a wire got broken in the process of me
> dicking
> around trying to get the alternator outta the engine crate?I dunnno.Guess
> I'll go back and trace my steps after work tommorow.
> Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions,
>
> Will
>
>
>

You forgot to disconnect the battery when you
took out the alternator? Your 80 Amp main fuse is
probably blown. $5 at any autoparts store, its
the one that is screwed down in the fuse panel
under the hood.

(I did the same thing when I replaced the
alternator on my 98 civic)

Either that, or do you have an alarm? My car
disables the start until i push unlock on the
remote...

t

OICU812 wrote:

<snip>

> OK,I went ahead and pulled the alternator(it was a bitch BTW)went ahead and
> bought a new one and installed it today.I went to go and start it up,when I
> turned the key no dome lights no click no nuthin'.I went and got my next
> door neighbor and see if he would give me a jump start tried that,still
> nuthin.I checked everything.I mean there's only 2 connections to the
> alternator and I made sure they were good cuz I hooked them up myself.

Two connections? Sort of, one fat white wire and one connector with 4
wires, but that is probably what you meant.

> Am I
> missing something here? Maybe a wire got broken in the process of me dicking
> around trying to get the alternator outta the engine crate?I dunnno.Guess
> I'll go back and trace my steps after work tommorow.
> Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions,

It is hard to botch an alternator installation to a point where you
can't even jump start the car, so I believe your problem is elsewhere.
Someone suggested the 80A fuse in the under-hood fuse box. Also check
that the battery ground cable is good and has firm connections both to
the battery and to the chassis. Same check on the fat wire between the
battery and the under-hood fuse box, is the wire good? firm connections
in both ends?

--
================================================== =====
A very modest collection of Honda tech info can be found at:
http://www.geocities.com/ng_randolph

"disallow" <loewen_t at yahoo.ca @> wrote in message
news:0fdb65bae98ab02d21dd3c27a55c3cb2@localhost.ta lkaboutautos.com...
: You forgot to disconnect the battery when you
: took out the alternator?
Duhh yeah I did ,I got a jolt when I went to take the nut off of the top
lead .Then I disconnected the battery + and - leads.
Your 80 Amp main fuse is
: probably blown.
I bet your right.Didin't even think of that.


:
: (I did the same thing when I replaced the
: alternator on my 98 civic)
:

I hate when that happens.

: Either that, or do you have an alarm? My car
: disables the start until i push unlock on the
: remote...

Nope, no alarm.Haven't needed one around here,yet......

Thanks ,
Will

I did my alternator at a buddy's place out in
the sticks. We finally finished at about
9:30pm (I did my timing belt that day too).

Go to fire it up, and DEAD. no lights on the
dash, NOTHIN. Try finding one of those 80 Amp
fuses at 10pm on a Friday night... I actually
did, the guy who installed my alarm had about
200 of them from a bulk lot he bought off of
ebay, so now I have like 5 of them in my
tool box.... lol

t

PS, where are you located that you don't need
an alarm? I'm in Winnipeg so maybe your close? if your close you can have
one of my 80 Amp
fuses.... lol

t

"disallow" <loewen_t at yahoo.ca @> wrote in message
news:3277bf62072487ff10862f5da51f06b6@localhost.ta lkaboutautos.com...
: PS, where are you located that you don't need
: an alarm? I'm in Winnipeg so maybe your close? if your close you can have
: one of my 80 Amp
: fuses.... lol
:
: t

I'm in Southern Pennsylvania .
Hey BTW which fuse is it? There are two of them that are screwed down.I hate
to sound like a newbie/dummy.I just don't wanna feel like an even bigger
dummy when I go to the auto parts store and have the wrong fuse in my
possesion

Read the fuse panel, I am fairly certain there is
only 1 80 Amp fuse. I could be wrong though.

You can see if its blown too, just look at the
filament under a light.

It should be labelled BATTERY on the diagram of
the fuse panel on the outside of the cover.

"disallow" <loewen_t at yahoo.ca @> wrote in message
news:478058eff8160eada41e02de8a42c681@localhost.ta lkaboutautos.com...
: Read the fuse panel, I am fairly certain there is
: only 1 80 Amp fuse. I could be wrong though.
:
: You can see if its blown too, just look at the
: filament under a light.
:
: It should be labelled BATTERY on the diagram of
: the fuse panel on the outside of the cover.
:


That's what it was.I disconnected the hot lead from my battery and then the
screws out of the old fuse.You could plainly see it was blown.I put a new
one in and got in and fired right up.Thanks again for all the help!