Charging Light / Choke Heater

**Andy** · 11-09-2004, 05:10 PM

Please somebody help....I've been battling this puzzle for about 2 years. I have a 88 Accord LX carb. The car has 301K on it now.

I replaced the piston rings and head gasket at 250K. After putting everything back together again (it took a month or two since I had never done anything like that before), I had a charging warning light and the idle would stick around 2000. The dealership told me that the carb needed to be replaced. I replaced the carb and surprise no help.

Going through the Honda manual it basiclly says to disconnect the various components off the harness line (efe heater, choke heater). With the choke heater disconnected the light goes out. The orginal carb plus the 2 rebuilt carbs all give the charging light. I gave up replacing the carb because I found it hard to believe there was a short in that many choke heaters, even though the manual leads you down that path.

I've read the various posts about the choke heaters and measured the current going to the choke heater and it was .1 A on 10 A and approx 90 some milliA on the lower scale. It was a steady current (hot engine) with no variations. The resitance across the choke heater is about 8 ohms. There is 14 volts on the harness side.

The problem with the idle sticking at 2000 is worse in the winter. Last winter sometimes I would spend 5 or 10 minutes to get the idle down so I could turn the car off without dieseling.

Thanks for any help Andy

**EvilPenciler** · 11-10-2004, 06:47 AM

when its idleing at 2grand is it running hard?

**Andy** · 11-10-2004, 04:42 PM

Not sure what you mean by running hard. Its obviously fast but its still smooth. Connecting or disconnecting the choke heater wire has no discernable difference in idle or performance with the exception that the charghing light goes out with the wire disconnected.

**EvilPenciler** · 11-10-2004, 08:21 PM

hmm have you turned it on left it alone walked back outside and kicked the accel?
What happened? Did it Go up , stay the same ,or go down?

**DanG86LX** · 11-10-2004, 09:53 PM

14V/8ohms ~ 1.7A but u said 90mA!
When u changed carbs, did u keep the choke heater?
Obviously there is a prob with the choke, the choke flap may stay half closed which sets the last step of high idle cam -> 2000rpm.

Here my choke readings:
Choke 1st stage resistance 26ohms @ 10C .5A
Choke 1st+2nd stage resistance 17ohms @ 30C 1A => .4A

**Andy** · 11-11-2004, 06:29 PM

I know 90 mA doesn't make sense to me either. If there was a ground in the choke heater (as the charging light appears to indicate) or the resistance is to low then if anything the current should be high not low. It appears that there is voltage but not current on the harness supply. I'm not sure how or what that means. I would think that if there was a problem with a ground on the harness supply wire then the charging light would be lit continuosly. Obviously I'm quite puzzled. Could it be a problem inside the alternator?

As far as the idle, it will usually come down with a light tap on the accelarator. Mashing the gas does not seem to work.

**DanG86LX** · 11-11-2004, 09:01 PM

If u measured the current, u can measure the voltage with choke heater connected to the harness. The ground should be carb housing. Is it 14V ? bc if is not then yes the voltage regulator in alternator could be faulty (guess).

..and does ur choke flap open to vertical after warmup, like 5min after start?