movindirt
May 18th, 2006, 14:18
Okay I though I would post this to see if anyone here can figure out what is going on. This morning I get a call from my wife because her car (2005 Civic) won't start after getting gas. She says all it does is make clicking noises and the dash lights are flashing crazy. My first thought is that the alt. went out somewhere on her 45 mile drive and she made it to the gas station on the battery. So she has a friend from school come and jump the car and then take it to their house where I went to switch it out with my truck.
When I get there I check the batt. voltage and it is 9.3v. I then jump it and check again and its 14v, hmmm alt. seems to be good.. Okay I'm thinking maybe the battery did just die. So I am there talking to the boyfriend of my wife classmate and the car stops running for no reason. Now I am starting to scratch my head wondering what is going on. At this point I figure maybe one of the cells in the battery is so dead that it caused an overload and killed the motor, so I jump it again and then disconnect the ground from the battery. No Thom I didn't hurt the alt., LOL :D . Still getting 14v from the alt. but now the battery reads 12.3v.. And again after a few minutes it just dies. So since I am getting such different reading with the battery connected vs disconnected I check the draw which wouldn't really even read on my meter but my best guess would be 0.5mA or less. I am completely stumped. Since I had an extra battery to jump it with I decided to just drive it home and then to the dealer which I did. I made it home with no problems. Pulled in the driveway and shut it off and then tried to restart it and got the same clicking and flashing lights. It is now a the dealer since it is under warranty. Just wondering if anyone knows what might be going on?
Lets make it interesting. I will give one free VHS copy of MOVIN' DIRT to the person who is the first to post the correct answer to what is wrong with the car. I will use the repair order from the dealer to determine the winner.
When I get there I check the batt. voltage and it is 9.3v. I then jump it and check again and its 14v, hmmm alt. seems to be good.. Okay I'm thinking maybe the battery did just die. So I am there talking to the boyfriend of my wife classmate and the car stops running for no reason. Now I am starting to scratch my head wondering what is going on. At this point I figure maybe one of the cells in the battery is so dead that it caused an overload and killed the motor, so I jump it again and then disconnect the ground from the battery. No Thom I didn't hurt the alt., LOL :D . Still getting 14v from the alt. but now the battery reads 12.3v.. And again after a few minutes it just dies. So since I am getting such different reading with the battery connected vs disconnected I check the draw which wouldn't really even read on my meter but my best guess would be 0.5mA or less. I am completely stumped. Since I had an extra battery to jump it with I decided to just drive it home and then to the dealer which I did. I made it home with no problems. Pulled in the driveway and shut it off and then tried to restart it and got the same clicking and flashing lights. It is now a the dealer since it is under warranty. Just wondering if anyone knows what might be going on?
Lets make it interesting. I will give one free VHS copy of MOVIN' DIRT to the person who is the first to post the correct answer to what is wrong with the car. I will use the repair order from the dealer to determine the winner.