Alternator dying ???

I just want to shoot this piece of crap and I wish it would just catch on fire & burn to the ground. Then I could just get something else to spend lots of money I don't have and spend every friggin weekend fixing and loosing work because of a piece of garbage that I am learning to hate more and more every friggin day. What in the hell? Can you tell that I am BITTER and PISSED OFF? The car is an 89 Civic LX, 1500 with a manual tranny. Both the old alternator and a brand new one that I got today from a very reputable shop do the same thing (not an AutoZone, or Checker, replace it every other month, like you have nothing better to do than check out their stock of crap parts when you finally get one that works and return the other 3 or 4 that just keep getting recirculated back on the shelf ). When cool, both the alts put out about 14+ volts, for about the first 5 minutes. When I turn on the lights and the heater fan to high, the volts drop and then come back up fairly quick. Then after about 5 minutes, the volts will go down quicker than Monica in the Oval Office. The rpms go down from about 950 to maybe 600. If anything, shouldn't they go up? I did this same test on my wife's car. I can turn every friggin thing the car has to high and the volt meter doesn't move, the idle speed doesn't change, nothing changes and it all works great. I checked the ground wires from the Battery to the frame, to the tranny, the valve cover to the frame next to the radiator, etc. There is no ground wire going from the thermostat housing to anywhere. There are no wires on the housing at all.

There is (according to the cheap ass manual that I have ) an "electric load detector" in the fuse box mounted on the passenger side close to the firewall. It has 3 or 4 wires in one of the connectors that then go to the ECM. Does anyone know how to test that or what the thing is supposed to do once it detects an electric load? Does anyone else have any ideas? I need this heap to run quick so I can go to work and make some money instead of wasting it on parts and loosing time off from work.

I've been having some problems with my alt too. About a month ago, I had my water pump and timing belt replaced, then had to drive about 6 hours to get home. On this drive, there would be surges of power where the headlights, brights (and the fog lights), and the interior lights (dash, spedo, climate control) would get brighter. The heater fan would also begin to work harder and it sounded like the wind was gusting into my car or something. After a while I noticed that my brights, and one of my fog lights had burnt out, I'm guessing because of these surges. (Shouldn't there be fuses that go first?)

There is no loss of power to any of my accessories, my stereo with the 250w amp and 10" sub works fine. I have had the engine light flick on for a split second once or twice, but I haven't noticed any lack in power ever.

I'm not sure what to do about it. Its been doing this for a month straight, but other than the surging after the engine has been warmed up, I haven't noticed any problems. Even in -40 weather here in Canada, my car has turned over fine many times without a blockheater. I've had it tested at two different places and both places told me my battery was dying, so I had it replaced, but I'm still getting the surges...

Is this something thats going to get worse? Can I live with an alt that does this every once in a while? Is the voltage regulator something that can be easilly fixed?

sorry if I snaked your thread, but I figured if people are already looking in here with knowledge about alternators, I might as well catch their attention too...

Nate

have you tried testing a brand new alt and see if this happens?

OK here we go with another update. I got a new alt yesterday. Same problem. I tested the ELD which is in the main fuse box. It tested ok. I took every fuse out of the fuse box in the car under the dash 1 at a time and tested the voltage with the engine running right at the alternator post to frame ground. With the headlights, and/or the heater fan motor on, the voltage drops immediately to the low 13s then continues to go below 12V if I don't shut off the lights and/or heater. Anyone want to tackle this one?

your not being thrown a code 20 ?

take it to a honda shop, it'll save you a lot of trouble - plus if the problem shows up again, just bring it back to em and they'll fix it up

No codes at all. No check engine light, nothing. Taking it to a honda dealer is going to cost an arm and a leg and probably my first born too right? We are talking about a 16 year old car that is probably worth $2000. It may take hours for them to find the problem (@ 80 - 100 bucks an hour) and they will have it for weeks too right?

you'll never know until you get it in there - don't even know what the problem is yet

Welcome to my world. I have the same exact problem on mine where the rpms drop about 500. I'm getting very sick of it so replacing the alt in the future is going to have to happen. If you do find anything out, please post back. I'd be most interested in your find :) GL

Well, I went to the dealer on Friday last week. They had it for a few hours and said that the alternator was the problem. I explained all that had been done by me and they said that they had done all the same things I had done. So...... I got an alternator from someone who has a good running honda just like mine. Guess what ? Same stinkin problem. I got another ELD (built in to the fusebox under the hood on the passenger fender) as a whole unit with the fusebox, and the main fusebox under the dash below the steering column. I changed out the ELD/Fusebox under the hood and tested it. Immediately after starting the car, the voltage was at 12.6 volts (it should be up over 14V.) and the idle was going up and down, up and down, for about 2 minutes. I then hit the power window switch for the driver window and the voltage went up over 14V. I turned the brights on and the volts dropped and immediately started to recover to the 14+ Volts. I shut the lights off and waited for the engine to warm up. After about 5 minutes the fans came on and I went to turn the lights on. After turning on the lights ( brights ) the volts dropped like a rock and continued until I shut them off. I then turned off the car and replaced the main fusebox under the dash below the steering column and started the process again. this time the car seemed to do better but didn't recover with the brights on. If I just had the low beams on the voltage actually held around 13.6 to 13.7 Volts. The RPMs still drop and do not come back up until turning off the lights. If I manually hold the throttle to increase the RPMs then the volts go back up. Tomorrow I will put my original ELD back and try that. If anyone has any ideas please let me know.