Another alternator bites the dust

[AccordB20A]

... and another one and another one i have one more to try 2morrow. was driving around last week and the battery light came on, i had a good swear and parked up turned the motor off and then started it again. and it was good, it worked fine. i thought sweet kept driving, it happened another 3 times until last night it died completely. after swapping the regulator from another alternator into it i thought it would be all good but it failed to operate... i had a good swear again and my mate jonno had a legend alternator. so we got that made it fit and work.. but it worked for a minuite then i heard a loud popping noise from the alternator and the battery light came on AGAIN.. more swearing. me and my mate jonno went and got another regulator thats guaranteed to work and i am going to install it 2morrow.....if it blows up too what could be wrong.. this will make the 5th alternator that my car has blown. i read the accord manual and checked the wiring and tested it with my multimeter and everything is right, the battery is good and no fuses are blown.. what else could be causing all these alternators to die... it cant be old age can it?????

[lostforawhile]

something must have blown the diodes in the legend alternator,that would make the popping sound. are you sure the battery is good? how old is it? it could very well have an internal short circuit causing you to blow alternators. also have you checked the wire feeding power from the alternator to the battery? i mean don't just look at it through the loom,i mean unwrap the loom and look for burned spots or possibly it wore through the insulation and contacted the metal somewhere. I don't believe there is an actual fuse between the alternator and battery on the overseas car. also where the alternator connects to the underhood fuse box,if it's the same,check for burned spots near there. disconnect the lead from the alternator to where it feeds into the fuse box, connect one lead from your OHMmeter to a good ground and connect the other to the battery terminal of the alternator harness,the part on the harness that connect to the BAT lead on the alternator. put your meter on continutity. now try moving the harness around to see if it goes to zero,if it does you have a battery lead short to ground.

[2oodoor]

yes somthing is shorting or real loose connection making it get hot hot from resistance..check negative side too

[AccordB20A]

when i put me new engine in i unwrapped my whole engine wiring loom (i removed the alternators battery cable cause its too small) and put the wires where i wanted them to go..... i have replaced the main alternator with with 4 gauge audio cable with a fuse and its all good. ill tell ya in a few mins if it will keep working. will the regulator in the legend alt still be good or shal i throw it out? id like to have the extra amps ifi can repair it

[russiankid]

Well you didn't answer lost's question, how old is the battery? Try changing the regulator AND the battery from another car or just get a new one. If the problem still exist then you can look into wiring. I would look into wiring anyways.

[lostforawhile]

yea if the battery is bad it will keep taking out the alternator. you'll have to take the legend alternatr apart to see if it's good,the diodes can be replaced as well as the regulator. you by any chance didn't hook up the cables backwards last time did you? that will blow the diodes like you said happened.

[AccordB20A]

nah i checked the wires 1st but sicne the power output on the legend alternator is underneath maybe it was shorting out and i dint see it, but then it would have blown the alternator charging wire fuse i have. anyway i installed the new alternator i got from a civic, needed to modify the top bracket and its now working all good without any problems. now battery i forgot to answer that last time, its 3 years old. but i have used 3 different batteries durong the 5 alternators i have blown up, i had a brand new one in at the time of the legend alternator dieing. currently i am back to using my 3 year old exide battery, still going strong and its a good brand... 330cca i cant see it could be my battery blowing the alternator but how would i know if the battery is buggered if it works fine??

[russiankid]

nah i checked the wires 1st but sicne the power output on the legend alternator is underneath maybe it was shorting out and i dint see it, but then it would have blown the alternator charging wire fuse i have. anyway i installed the new alternator i got from a civic, needed to modify the top bracket and its now working all good without any problems. now battery i forgot to answer that last time, its 3 years old. but i have used 3 different batteries durong the 5 alternators i have blown up, i had a brand new one in at the time of the legend alternator dieing. currently i am back to using my 3 year old exide battery, still going strong and its a good brand... 330cca i cant see it could be my battery blowing the alternator but how would i know if the battery is buggered if it works fine??
330cca? That is low, i have like 650cca...

[AccordB20A]

yeah its a bit small but it does the job fine. idid have a 550cca but yeah it wont fit anymore where it is currently.. had to make room for the pod filter: http://accord.wohdog.sytes.net/Pictures/cleanup2/large/12.jpg

[2oodoor]

Move that battery to the trunk,, dam I hate looking at that:)
It looks like your battery could be jumping around in there, no hold downs? that will easy crack the plates in todays battery, causing internal shorts. Also it looks like your terminals could be touching the hood when it is closed.
You can usually see a crazy voltage reading on a shorted battery, with a Digital meter. unhook the coil wire or take out fuel pump relay and try to start it for thirty seconds, see how the readings go, shouldnt dip below 9.6... and surely shouldnt be going into algebraic figures.

[imjdoggie]

Is it an OEM alternator?????

[AccordB20A]

plastic covers over battery terminals so no contact there, battery is held down usually so it doesnt move and yes they all have been OEM alternators. ill do that "unhook the coil wire or take out fuel pump relay and try to start it for thirty seconds, see how the readings go, shouldnt dip below 9.6... and surely shouldnt be going into algebraic figures" 2morrow and see what happens. cars been running fine the last 2 days on the civic ZC alternator i have installed.

[Hazwan]

Hey I have the same battery terminal :rockon:

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v197/ullyeus/DSC00001.jpg

[AccordB20A]

yeah man they are sick aye :P

[2oodoor]

where do you get those? I need to buy like twenty pair

[AccordB20A]

mine from trademe off a guy for like $12 each

[AccordB20A]

ok this is really starting to fuck me off to the extent where i get out and kick every panel of my car... tonight driving home from my mates 3/4 way home the batterry light flicked on and off and back on and u guessed it, another alternator. what the hells happening with this sack of shit

[MessyHonda]

ok this is really starting to fuck me off to the extent where i get out and kick every panel of my car... tonight driving home from my mates 3/4 way home the batterry light flicked on and off and back on and u guessed it, another alternator. what the hells happening with this sack of shit



cant you get the alternator rebuilt with new stuff. if you are burning them up maybe its time to take out the sound system. big amps dont like small alternators....i had a 1800 watt kicker amp and it made my lights blink all the time....i was helping it die faster.

[AccordB20A]

yeah i thought that too but the thing is the radios never on when an alt blows, anyways False alarm boys woke up this morning to find that it was only the belt that snapped... my bad lol

[Hazwan]

LOL glad you didn't kick every panel of your car :D

[AccordB20A]

same, cause bodywork sucks!!1

[2oodoor]

hey I was going to mention this before, carefull how tight you get the belt, it is very easy to over tighten with the adjuster. Over tighten it and it will eat alt bearings, water pumps.. and belts.