Civic EG

Honestly in all the years that I've owned a Honda I've never had the battery light come on. I've read through the troubleshooting and they use a lot of tools that I do not have access to (amp clamp, battery load machine). Does anyone have a laymens way troubleshoot my issue or should I just remove the alternator and have an auto parts store test it? I know it's not charging because on my way home last night the tach went dead and then the speedo wasn't working and all my lights were super dim.

Sounds like a bad alt. Just take it to the parts store for a test. That way if it is bad you have the core to swap already there. also check for proper tension on the belt and that all wires are tight. like power on the alt and batt. terminal connections.

you can unhook the battery to test the alternator... kindof a poor mans technique. if the alternator can keep the car running its working properly.

but your already having problems with it so its probably on its way out.

like egsedanguy said, check everything. could be a loose/bad ground or cable maybe somethings corroded or the plug could have came undone

I checked all connections along with the fuse that it said to check in the troubleshooting so I'm pretty sure it's the alternator, just wanted to see your experience with them. Hopefully it quits snowing because this will have to be a driveway job

lay down a cheapo tarp and an old piece of carpet on top of it

TrailerTrash wrote:lay down a cheapo tarp and an old piece of carpet on top of it

cardboard. lol

corrugated not cardboard

lol

Use a toboggan as a creeper.

this actually just happened to me about 3 weeks ago.
it ended up being the wire that went from the alt to the fusebox. there was corrosion inside the wire. the car ran fine with no electrics on, but would slowly die if i had to use lights, heat etc.
just another thing to check.
good luck

Mine would die with no electronics and I had two seperate places bench test my old one before I got a new one. New one is on and I'm seeing 14+V at idle so life is good

juls1488 wrote:this actually just happened to me about 3 weeks ago.
it ended up being the wire that went from the alt to the fusebox. there was corrosion inside the wire. the car ran fine with no electrics on, but would slowly die if i had to use lights, heat etc.
just another thing to check.
good luck

oh my god your a genious, thank you, I have this same problem car ran fine when I started it but when I turned on heater and lights it started to dim everything very quickly, couldn't figure it out but I saw this and remembered that my wire wasn't very good, kinda jank but it came that way, now I know that I can replace that and fix a lot of issues. thanks again dude!