car question re: my 91 crx

[ondarkness]

the battery light appears while idle at red lights, or stop signs.
It only pops on, and goes away when I rev or by itself sometimes.

I changed the alternator. (I did the pull the ground wire test, and the car turned off)
The battery still comes out though.

Can the battery have been drained and not be holding it's charge?
Or what else could it be?

The car runs fine otherwise.
-other than the occasional electrical whine at startups rather than the engine turning.
-but the second try usually gets it running.

Parking this in the garage.

vi edit
Off Topic Moderator

 

[rasczak]

Originally posted by: ondarkness
the battery light appears while idle at red lights, or stop signs.
It only pops on, and goes away when I rev or by itself sometimes.

I changed the alternator. (I did the pull the ground wire test, and the car turned off)
The battery still comes out though.

Can the battery have been drained and not be holding it's charge?
Or what else could it be?

The car runs fine otherwise.
-other than the occasional electrical whine at startups rather than the engine turning.
-but the second try usually gets it running.

#1 wrong forum
#2 take said battery to autozone and tested.

 

[Baked]

Ask here http://forums.anandtech.com/ca...px?catid=85&entercat=y

 

[mh47g]

Your alternator is bad (or better way to say it is, it's not your battery)

Edit: Your battery light will ONLY come on while the car is running if your alternator is not supplying juice. Even if your battery is bad while your car is running, the light should not come on if you have a good alternator.

Your belt might be slipping, or...?

 

[rasczak]

Originally posted by: mh47g
Your alternator is bad.

OP stated he changed alternator already

 

[mh47g]

Originally posted by: rasczak

Originally posted by: mh47g
Your alternator is bad.

OP stated he changed alternator already

Added more to the post.

 

[nakedfrog]

What's your idle RPM?

 

[ondarkness]

the rpms are jumpy a little over 1000
im thinking the belt might be loose, as it was my 1st time changing an alternator.
the alternator was refurbished too, so that might be it.
any way to check if it's the refurbd alternator?

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Might look into changing your cables.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: ondarkness
the rpms are jumpy a little over 1000
im thinking the belt might be loose, as it was my 1st time changing an alternator.
the alternator was refurbished too, so that might be it.
any way to check if it's the refurbd alternator?

At idle, you should be getting ~13.5 volts across the battery terminals. to do this properly, you need a load tester, but a quick check with a multi-meter can tell you if it's really bad. Places like AutoZone should have tools to load test a battery that you can borrow.

ZV

 

[ondarkness]

good tips guys.

-will check the load, the current charge, and into changing the cables.
When I bought the rex, it had the battery relocated to behind the pass seat, so thats another factor.

thanks!
This forum is like the big brother I never had
=)

 

[HiTek21]

My dads Tacoma had a battery light on. We replaced the alternator and it was still on. Turned out theres a signal wire somewhere from the alternator to the gauge that broke causing the light to stay on.