Help!! CRX keeps dying while driving

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bluerex504

New Member
So last night I'm driving and i notice my lights start to dim, my cd player shuts off as soon as I hit the brakes. Then fuel pressure slowly starts to go down (Normally will idle at 51 psi) is more around the 10-20 psi range. And my car finally dies in the middle of the road. Light will barely come on. So i get it jumped and Runs perfect and everything but only made it about a mile down the road before the same thing happened again. This happened 2 more times. I recently got my altenator tested and the brushes replaced in it. And when the car is idiling and I take the battery out the car will not die. So obviously my altenator is putting out. Car is a 91 crx si w/ b18a1 if that helps.
 
Yeah, It still runs without the battery. There has to be a draw somewhere. Maybe the alt. ground? This is my first honda so im not too familiar with them..
 
Dont take out your fucking battery while its running, you'll fuck up a lot of stuff.

Battery or alternator.

Get a Helms, Haynes, ect manual and it will tell you how to troubleshoot everything.
 
check the voltage while the car is runing ill bet you almost any thing that its a bad alternator
 
Altenator puts out 12.7 while running and lights off. With lights on 12.4. (Same as the battery) My teacher told me that the alt. should be putting out somewhere around 14 with a fully charged battery. But i dont think a drop of 2 volts is causing my problem. Oh and now my headlights wont turn on. It seems as tho whenever my car dies its when my headlighs are on. And when i turn on my headlights the interior lights dim. Is this Normal? Any other suggestions? this is really pissin me off and happened 2 times last night.
 
Your charging system should be running at 14.4 volts plus or minus a few tenths. Any less than that and you have a problem with your battery, alternator, or wiring. Check your battery cables and grounds. Have the battery either load tested or capacitence tested and have the alternator re tested. and while you are having the alternator tested have them do a full field output check on it.
 
Dont take out your fucking battery while its running, you'll fuck up a lot of stuff.

Care to elaborate? It's a common way to do quick tests as long as you don't run the car for long like that; not actually taking the whole battery out but just unhooking the negative.

It could still be an failing alternator; and the extra load from the brake lights, headlights, radio, etc. just killed it. Is the battery dead(I'm assuming it is)?

What I'm thinking is the alternator can't keep up/can't keep the battery charged, so everything starts running straight off the battery and draining it. The alternator puts out just enough to keep the car running, but once there's more load, there's not enough to keep the engine running.

Take your battery and alternator to Advance Auto or AutoZone and have them test it(their system will simply say Pass or Fail/Replace). If the brushes are still good, the voltage regulator could be messed up. Hence, why it's best to just replace the whole alternator.
 
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Its sounds like the same problem i had. 90 hatch b16 swap. I check over and over again and couldn't find anything. There was a short some where that i couldn't even find. As soon as i hook up the battery the lights in the middle of the cluster would come on(brake/high beam all that random stuff). If i would get the car started and just tap the brakes/turn on the radio/turn on the headlights/windshield wipers/turn signals the car would die. I took it to some guys that know wiring and all that stuff and they couldn't even find the short( but it may have something to do with a alarm system that was installed by previous owner or whatever) Long story short i pulled the motor and i've bin looking around for a new home for it.
 
I took it up to Advance and they said the altenator. So im just gonna go back to the place that "Fixed" My altenator and tell them to fix it at their expense.
 
did you check your rotor in the dizzy? is quick easy check...
 
make them test it before you leave the store i have gotten many remanufactured alts that are bad out of the box and have saved my self many hours of labor by having them tested before leaving the store with them
 
did you check your rotor in the dizzy? is quick easy check...

Good idea!

same thing happened to my teg when the cap was bad.....well that and backfires that sounded like gunshots lol
 
Care to elaborate? It's a common way to do quick tests as long as you don't run the car for long like that; not actually taking the whole battery out but just unhooking the negative.

It could still be an failing alternator; and the extra load from the brake lights, headlights, radio, etc. just killed it. Is the battery dead(I'm assuming it is)?

What I'm thinking is the alternator can't keep up/can't keep the battery charged, so everything starts running straight off the battery and draining it. The alternator puts out just enough to keep the car running, but once there's more load, there's not enough to keep the engine running.

Take your battery and alternator to Advance Auto or AutoZone and have them test it(their system will simply say Pass or Fail/Replace). If the brushes are still good, the voltage regulator could be messed up. Hence, why it's best to just replace the whole alternator.


couldnt unhooking the battery while the engine is running screw up the ecu and some other electronics as well?
 
Not really; the alternator utilizes a voltage regulator which, yea, regulates output. If anything, while the car is running the battery just acts as a big capacitor. The battery would add load to the alternator until it's fully charged. Once charged, it's pretty much a storage bank since the alternator is constantly putting out power/wattage.

This is why many people who have high output audio systems upgrade to a high-output alternator. If the alternator can't keep up, it starts draining the batteries.

When buying something from Advance Auto or Auto Zone, always inspect/test the parts. I've had axles, batteries, etc. DOA before(or dead after a couple minutes of use).
 
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couldnt unhooking the battery while the engine is running screw up the ecu and some other electronics as well?

Yes it can, it's not always going to screw things up but there is a strong posibility

Not really; the alternator utilizes a voltage regulator which, yea, regulates output. If anything, while the car is running the battery just acts as a big capacitor. The battery would add load to the alternator until it's fully charged. Once charged, it's pretty much a storage bank since the alternator is constantly putting out power/wattage.

This is why many people who have high output audio systems upgrade to a high-output alternator. If the alternator can't keep up, it starts draining the batteries.

When buying something from Advance Auto or Auto Zone, always inspect/test the parts. I've had axles, batteries, etc. DOA before(or dead after a couple minutes of use).

Yes, Alternators have voltage regulators but they work by reading the battery and adjusting from there. If you unhook the battery while the engine is running the regulator will lose sense that the battery is totally dead and go full output. Try putting a multi meter in the battery cables while doing it. I have seen some cases where the alternator will spike 20 volts or more. A cheap battery tester from sears,schucks,napa,pepboys etc. is a much better way of checking your battery and alternator than just pulling the cables off.
 
So I get me new altenator today and get it tested blah blah. I didnt have my amp meter on me, i'll check it tomorrow in my auto class. well anyways works dandy till night comes. Pretty much same syptoms occurr, losing fuel pressure, lights dim, EXCEPT now when I turn my headllights on my interior lights flicker from bright to dark. The interior lights would always dim before but never would flicker on brighter. Is it normal for my interior lights to dim when I turn my headlights on?
 
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