Electrical Problem!

[zcmadman]

ok well i was out at the drag strip last night in the staging lanes and this happened on the way home too... like my car ran fine, but barely had enough power to start up, and the lights were dimming and the radio was turnin off, but for a little bit every now and then it would be fine. I have never replaced the alternator in 2 years, but have replaced the batt bout a 1yr and a 1/2 ago. I have a pretty decent power robbin system, 2 10's on a class d amp at about 350-400 watts, but never had probs like this before. I have a fancy schmancy power gold plated thing and so the wires might just have came loose but i dont think so, the belts are all tight, and the tards from autozone said that all my car needs is the batt to be charged, but i dont just sit there and let my stereo play w/out the car on. Any body had a prob like that and gots an answer to it?

[travis_118]

check to see if your intake (if you have one) is not arcing on the positive terminal ( this happens ALOT) i had th same problem and it turned out to be my intake arcing...end result?.... melted a hole in my intake and could have cause a fire.....

[zcmadman]

i got an hks intake but its metal so no probs w/that, but the terminal has a plastic cover over it so it wont shock somethin, but im bout to look at the connections to just be sure. its not a constant thing either which is really weird

[gunnmen01]

go somewhere else and have them test the alternator then....autozone dont always know what its talking about....



gunnmen01

[zcmadman]

also when i put on the gas it sputters and hesitates, like on my way to school it quit on me about 4 or 5 times, i just popped the clutch to get it going again. if it means anything i have about a 1/4 a tank of premium fuel w/octane booster in it. im gonna just get it towed home so it dont cut off on a busy road and me get in a wreck! but when i started it up this morning it cut on fine but when i stopped later down the road, and added an electrical load when i put my turn signal on it did this weird stuff, like the lights dimmin and the acceleration being hesitating. everybody tells me its my alternator so thats gotta be it but w.my luck its something else. Oh well one of my friends is takin his d16a6 out w/asingle vtec goin in so hes gonna give me a sweet deal on everthing i need for $250 btw the motor has been torn down and put back together w/high compression pistons and misc. other stuff, so bascically it brand new and hasnt been on the road much at all.
-andy

[zcmadman]

i just went out to it and noticed that one of the electrical connections was loose not the plug but the ring terminal, so its gotta be the prob, is that the ground?

[91civicDXdude]

i just want to know what the hell you're doing drag racing with your subs still in the car. that adds hella weight man.

[zcmadman]

car is too slow to matter. well what happened is that the alternator got fried b/c the power wire to my alternator has a short in it. i think at least. so im gonna get a new alternator and just run a new power wire to it direct from the batt. should i put a fuse on it or is there one somewhere else?

[zcmadman]

hey i fixed it, new alternator, new power wire=runnin strong car. does the si motor use the same alternator? b/c im gettin a deal on one.