weird electrical

[erastusboy]

i have a 90 crx hf with some really crappy wiring here is my problem, the battery dies about once a week maybe once everyother week if i am lucky. I have been disconnecting the battery when i turn off the car for any extended period of time, my thinkin being that there is a drain somewhere but when i tested the battery there was no drain and the alternator is charging well. I am thinkin its a relay not closing or something but everything seems to turn off so i dunno. I replaced the stereo but f the acessory had zero voltage in it so i traced it around threw the cig. lighter and ended up giving up and wiring it into a switch that turns on an extra fan by the radiator (dunno why thats there came int he car) so now i have a cd player switch which is kinda funny. Finally when i turn on the turn signal or the brights my tach goes to zero and bounces up and down in time with the turn signal and the temp gauge does the same thing. Oh and finally when i rev my engine the exterior lights get brighter. Is there a fix or is my hf controlled by the devil? I have heard of weird electrical in these cars but this seems extra strange.

[lilol89crx]

i never personally had a electrical prob with my past crx's(7 of them). but that is one hella prob u got there. i personaly wouldnt be able to help you unless i was there. my recomendation is to take it to a profesional cause that things controlled by more than the devil.

[Magik Si]

Wow! That's incredible...I know how you feel though...on my 90Si...my oil light goes on when the car is 'off', the brake light comes on intermittently when the car is 'on' (the pbrake isn't), one of the back up lights works sometimes, one of the bulbs in the tail lights works sometimes, my third brake light doesn't work at all...

As far as the second fan...does/did your car ever have AC? Cause on the girlfriend's DX, she has two fans and two rad's, one is for the engine, one is for the AC. perhaps someone just left the second fan in when they removed the AC if your AC is gone...just a thought/stab at what it might be....

Jason

[erastusboy]

i dunno if my car has a/c i know its supposed to but maybe its gone the fan is right nexted to the one for the radiator but the weird thing is its on a switch thats by the steering wheel that someone just added its all very strange

[whobeyoube]

hey it sounds like you have an alternator issue possibly erastus, and even a ground on the motor may need to be checked into. but with all the extra things wired up its hard to say. but if you are reving it and the lights get brighter and the tach pitches with the turn signal those are things to look into bro.

[erastusboy]

alternator is fine i have checked it twice and i replaced the battery cables cause they were shit and checked the battery again so the battery and alternator are fine my guess is that its a relay that isnt shutting off how would you guys recommend checking through for this

[whobeyoube]

check your main grounds then as well, i'm thinking that somewhere amidst all the extra wiring from the previous owner that somethings most likely draining your juice, check to make sure the ground on your tranny is good as well as the one to your valve cover, there is also one on the housing where your lower radiator hose attaches to your motor on that gooseneck. thats really wierd erastus i mean crx have classic wiring probs but mostly in the rear tail lights, the connections where the bulbs sit get really corroded( i spell like a 10 year old) this makes the lights flicker on an off at will due to the bad connection, but i work on a lot of honda's and never really come across any bad relay problems except for the main ignition relay which is a pretty classic problem. i think you got some serious wiring problems in the car from people monkey riggin shit up bro. and thats a hard thing to fix coming into someone elses mess and its hard for us to diagnos electrical probs like that without being there. hope you can figure it out though. but i would probably do like lilol89 said and let a shop look at it, yeah i know it sucks ass and money but its that or keep pullin the terminal everytime you let it sit.

[EF You]

try this. pop the hood, disconnect the negative terminal, attach the alligator clip end of a test light to the terminal, and then touch the test light to the negative batter post. does it light up? if it does, you have a draw on your power when the key is off. the light shouldnt light up.

if it does, start pulling fuses one by one until the light turns off. then you can narrow the draw down to a particular system. from there you can find the source of the problem.

the reason someone hooked up that switch for your fan is either because they dont know electrical systems and couldnt get that fan to turn off and on automatically (relay busted) or the A/C system is removed, and they wanted to use that fan as an extra cooling source for the engine.

[whobeyoube]

nice post incucivic, good thinking i can honestly say i have never had to do anything like that yet (knock on fukin wood) but that is an ideal way to check for sure!

[91civichatch2571]

yea, when you have power being drawn from the battery when the car is off, its called parasitic drain. good thinkin incu.

[erastusboy]

Originally Posted by incucivic

try this. pop the hood, disconnect the negative terminal, attach the alligator clip end of a test light to the terminal, and then touch the test light to the negative batter post. does it light up? if it does, you have a draw on your power when the key is off. the light shouldnt light up.

if it does, start pulling fuses one by one until the light turns off. then you can narrow the draw down to a particular system. from there you can find the source of the problem.

the reason someone hooked up that switch for your fan is either because they dont know electrical systems and couldnt get that fan to turn off and on automatically (relay busted) or the A/C system is removed, and they wanted to use that fan as an extra cooling source for the engine.

DUDE YOU ARE A FREAKIN GENIUS that will make finding the drain so much easier i am at a lose for words thanks a ton