I am having car electrical problems, need help.

[AzNKiD]

Does anyone know any electrical car services around the los angeles area? I am having problems with my car and its electical related. i know itll cost a grip to send it to honda dealer to fix and not many places can troubleshot electrical problems. any recommanditions?

for any car junkie, here are my syntoms.

honda accord '96 v4 4door

SRS light is on

ABS light comes on randomly with clicking sound from glove department and all my lights dim when it "clicks". also the speed meter on my car drops as well like a short.

sometimes turning on headlight will cause ABS light to come with click sound.

took car to autozone, they used a volt meter, 13volt while car was on so alternator is fine so they claim.

car wont start, require jump start everytime

battery is brand new, 2weeks old durlast gold.

jumpstarted, drove around for 15mins and car wont start on its own still.

while driving around, car seem fine except the abs clicking sound.

the guy at autozone said i probably have a electrical drain somewhere but they dont know what the problem could be. i am totally lost and its pissing me off

 

[TekViper]

sounds like all your problems are related to a bad battery and alternator. since you say the battery is 2 weeks old you might have a bad alternator or corrosion in the wiring. you can't test an alternator with just a volt meter, it needs to be hooked up to an alternator tester which will load the battery and measure the alternator output in amps. im guessing, but alternator in that car should probably be putting out 60-70 amps at about 2300 rpm.

you might also have something draining the battery while the car is off. to test for this hook up an ampmeter in series between the negative battery terminal and the cable. there shouldn't be more then about .05amps going through. if you get more then that, make sure everything in the car is off (doors closed, all lights off, ignition off). if it's still high start pulling fuses until it drops to normal levels.

dont forgot to check the wiring to the battery/alternator/starter. The cables should have no corrosion and make sure all conenctions are tight. if you want, measure voltage drop across each of the cables, should be no more then 0.3v lost across them.

Car electronics will do weird things if theres a probably with the power supply, which sounds like whats going on here. There still might be other issues with the car, but you can't start diagnosing them if the battery is constantly dieing. once you know the starting and charging systems are good then you can start tracking down other problems.

good luck

 

[olds]

Another way to test for shorts is to disconnect the negative battery cable. Use a 12v test light to go between the cable and a ground. If it lights up you have a short. If so, pull one fuse at a time (replacing it after looking at test light) till the light goes out. The short is in that circuit.
I guess that test still works with computers.

 

[Viperoni]

Sounds like a bad alternator that isn't charging the battery.
You should be ~14.4v with the engine on. My old GS charged at ~14.7 and my LS does it ~14.6.

The moment you turn the car off, the voltage should drop slowly down to ~12.4.

 

[TekViper]

Originally posted by: oldsmoboat
Another way to test for shorts is to disconnect the negative battery cable. Use a 12v test light to go between the cable and a ground. If it lights up you have a short. If so, pull one fuse at a time (replacing it after looking at test light) till the light goes out. The short is in that circuit.
I guess that test still works with computers.

if you disconnect the negative battery cable from the battery, theres no way a test light would ever light up. you go between the negative battery cable and ground? thats like probing the same length of wire. I think what you ment is to put the test light in series with the negative battery terminal and cable. if theres something drawing enough amps the lamp will light. this isnt a really good way to measure how much parasitic draw there is on the battery, you really need an amp meter.

 

[olds]

Originally posted by: TekViper

Originally posted by: oldsmoboat
Another way to test for shorts is to disconnect the negative battery cable. Use a 12v test light to go between the cable and a ground. If it lights up you have a short. If so, pull one fuse at a time (replacing it after looking at test light) till the light goes out. The short is in that circuit.
I guess that test still works with computers.

if you disconnect the negative battery cable from the battery, theres no way a test light would ever light up. you go between the negative battery cable and ground? thats like probing the same length of wire. I think what you ment is to put the test light in series with the negative battery terminal and cable. if theres something drawing enough amps the lamp will light. this isnt a really good way to measure how much parasitic draw there is on the battery, you really need an amp meter.

You're right, I meant cable to terminal.
EDIT
This is in lieu of a multimeter. I am assuming he doesn't have one.

 

[AzNKiD]

wow, sounds like i am in major sh|t i not very good with cars, i think ill take it to a shop to repair, but where? i went to pep boys and auto zone, but no luck. i highly doubt any shop will be open on sunday, so where should i take it on monday? are there any chain shops that do this type of work or do i have to find a mom and pop shop? honda dealer is my last resort

 

[TechnoKid]

you may have a bad ground.

First, if you do not have a helms repair/service manual, then go to your local library tomorrow if they are open or go on monday. They should have master sets of electrical and mechanical service manual from Chiltons for your accord. Study the troubleshooting section and the electrical wiring diagrams.

I would check the cables running from your alternator to the battery and the fuseable links (the big looking 40+ amp fuses that are screwed in). I would then check to make sure the ground from the bateery to the fram of the car is tight. Also, check to make sure that there is a ground from your engine block to the frame, as well as from the transmission to the frame.

Can you describe what kind of clicking it is? Like the sound a static electricity spark makes? Like a ruller hitting a table? Like a wall clock? You say the clicking is coming from the glove compartment area, well the ABS modulator is on the drivers side on the accords, so i doubt its that. DOes it make the clicking sound when you have the cabin-fan on? Sometimes the blower motor for the heater/AC makes clicking sounds when teh motor is bad.

Are your headlights bright or dim?

Is your braking at all different/affected when the ABS light is on?

 

[AzNKiD]

wow, thanks for all that TechnoKid, but i am not too good with cars so i dont think i can do all those tests. i know those terms you used, but i have no idea where to locate them. i think the best thing to do is just take it to a professional and not risk fuxoring it up more.

as for the clicking sound, its more like a ruller hitting table. its kinda weird because the clicking occurs on a consistent time period between each click. for example, it makes clicking sound every 3seconds and not randomly. if it was a short static, the timing would be random, but its not. it has to be a short somewhere eles causing the electrical equiments to malifunticon. once a click occur, my lights dim down, sometimes radio go off and sometimes the speedometer bar drops for a split second as if i lost power. everything else on the car seem normal like the brakes/abs and cabinfan. SRS light is airbag, i think its the passenger airbag that is making clicking sound oh well, hopefully i dont have to pay too much. thanks to all above.

 

[TechnoKid]

Originally posted by: AzNKiD
wow, thanks for all that TechnoKid, but i am not too good with cars so i dont think i can do all those tests. i know those terms you used, but i have no idea where to locate them. i think the best thing to do is just take it to a professional and not risk fuxoring it up more.

as for the clicking sound, its more like a ruller hitting table. its kinda weird because the clicking occurs on a consistent time period between each click. for example, it makes clicking sound every 3seconds and not randomly. if it was a short static, the timing would be random, but its not. it has to be a short somewhere eles causing the electrical equiments to malifunticon. once a click occur, my lights dim down, sometimes radio go off and sometimes the speedometer bar drops for a split second as if i lost power. everything else on the car seem normal like the brakes/abs and cabinfan. SRS light is airbag, i think its the passenger airbag that is making clicking sound oh well, hopefully i dont have to pay too much. thanks to all above.

There is something wrong with your SRS system. A quick (possible) fix would be to pull the SRS/Airbag fuse(s) to disable the system, however, your SRS system would not work; not like it does right now anyhow.

 

[virtueixi]

Originally posted by: TekViper
sounds like all your problems are related to a bad battery and alternator. since you say the battery is 2 weeks old you might have a bad alternator or corrosion in the wiring. you can't test an alternator with just a volt meter, it needs to be hooked up to an alternator tester which will load the battery and measure the alternator output in amps. im guessing, but alternator in that car should probably be putting out 60-70 amps at about 2300 rpm.

you might also have something draining the battery while the car is off. to test for this hook up an ampmeter in series between the negative battery terminal and the cable. there shouldn't be more then about .05amps going through. if you get more then that, make sure everything in the car is off (doors closed, all lights off, ignition off). if it's still high start pulling fuses until it drops to normal levels.

dont forgot to check the wiring to the battery/alternator/starter. The cables should have no corrosion and make sure all conenctions are tight. if you want, measure voltage drop across each of the cables, should be no more then 0.3v lost across them.

Car electronics will do weird things if theres a probably with the power supply, which sounds like whats going on here. There still might be other issues with the car, but you can't start diagnosing them if the battery is constantly dieing. once you know the starting and charging systems are good then you can start tracking down other problems.

good luck

Exactly.

 

[ThisIsMatt]

Did you have these problems before the new battery?