96 civic fuel/electrical problem

[amdskip]

96 civic lx, stock, 140k miles, 5 speed.

First sign of trouble was that I pulled into the garage and the cd player spit the cd out and lost all stations. I didn't really think much of it. Later that day it would not turn over, jumped it and all seemed ok.

On the way to auto zone it would not idle so I ended up parking it, pulling the battery, and having them test the battery which tested ok.

The battery reads 12.8v+ and when the car was idling it said 14v+ so I believe the alternator is ok.

I put the car on the charger and it at most said 2.5 amps and barely took a charge. Started it up tonight and it was running great. Drove around 3 miles up to 55mph and got to the stop sign and it idled to nothing and turned off. Started right back and ran fine as long as it was not idling.

Any ideas?

 

[KevinCU]

Do you have an aftermarket stereo system in your car (amplifier, subwoofers, etc)?

 

[amdskip]

Originally posted by: KevinCU
Do you have an aftermarket stereo system in your car (amplifier, subwoofers, etc)?

Nope, just a simple cd player.

 

[fleabag]

I know this may sound like a pain in the ass to do, but check your grounds, you may have a bad cable. For a car to act very bipolar like that would indicate an electrical issue, it could be the spark plug wires arching, coil, something touching ground that isn't supposed to, or something of the sort. Just be glad that your car is a Civic and not a BMW or Lexus, I've got my hands full with my LS400 as it is..

 

[darom]

Another vote for bad ground connections. Clean your battery terminals, clean the cable ends with a sand paper. I like adding additional grounds from the engine block to the sheet metal (firewall, for example).

 

[LTC8K6]

Failing alternator?