Electrical Drain...all fuses pulled and still!!

[Honda4Lunch]

Ok....I was suspecting the alternator going in my car cause whenever I had the headlights on and turned on the A/C the lights would dim. Then it got to the point where the car would die if just idling w/ AC and lights on. The auto place tested the alternator and said it had no diode ripple. So I bought a new alternator/rebuilt and put that in this morning. No my damn car dies as I am returning the old alternator. THey said they couldn't test the old one alternator cause they didn't have the right plug. So I recheck connections and finally get my car running. I check the lights with the A/C and the car stutters when in idle still, so I take it back to get the alternator/battery tested again....this time the guy says that theres a short and he can't test it. I put the volt meter across the neg battery pole and and the neg wire and sure enough 12v. I test across the pole and the frame...12v. I pull every damn fuse under the hood and next to the drivers left foot panel all the relays, the fuses for my alarm, the aftermarket radio fuse, unhook the ECU bundle that hooks to my TT...and still 12v. DAMN IT!!!! I am out of ideas....if something is shorted to the frame...it could be anywhere!! Help anybody.

 

[Honda4Lunch]

ok duel problem here...I keep having to take some time outs or else my fist is going to go thru the windshield...anyhow, one of the wires that goes to the alternator is shorting out the frame. Kind of hard to explain which one without a picture, but it's not the plug, it's the one that goes on top of the bolt. That one is hot, so I need to fix that cause once I bolt it on, it shorts out the frame thru the shell of the alternator. Now, with that disconnected, I started plugging back in all the fuses and the radio fuse is causing a short. The entire aftermarket stereo is unplugged and is still causing a short...and I'm at a lose with fixing this as well. the fuse that is causing the problem is the fuse on the right as you're looking down on the fuse box from the front...any and all help is appreciated!!

 

[Honda4Lunch]

Question 1: Where do the wires go from the right radio fuse under the hood? That one seems to be the one that is shorted out.


As for the alternator, if all the wires are disconnected from it, there is no short. The top most left wire on the alternator is hot, so when I put it on the alternator it shorts out thru the alternator cover thru the rest of the car and drains my battery. How do I replace that wire?? I have one today to fix this before work tomorrow. Please.

 

[Honda4Lunch]

Not good! The fuse bundled with the radio was for a dome light or something. That is drawing 12v and about .4 amps constantly...don't know if that is normal or not. Fried my voltmeter wires reading the amps while hooking the alternater back up. The voltmeter was between the neg pole on the battery and the neg wires, so I shouldn't have been reading anything. I'm telling ya, there are gremlins in this car and I'm about ready to buy a new one.

Anyhow, the whole car is back together and won't start. It's trying to turn over, but just won't start. I've had it with this POS. I'm just updating everyone on my progress, I'm sure you're all as boggled as I am being that I'm the biggest contributor to this thread HA HAAAAA! :laugh:

 

[Honda4Lunch]

Well, it's a little known fact that you have to reconnect the ECU. Found that this morning. Got a new voltmeter and the shorting problems seem to have been fixed, but the voltage output on my TT is showing 10.5-11.5 just reving it in park. Once the RPMs go above 2000 the A/T Temp light, Battery light and one other light come on which I think basically means that the alternator is bad. If this "brand new" alternator is bad, I'm gonna be smokin pi$$ed! Anyhow, I'm back to work now.

 

[Ludachris]

You might be wondering why nobody has responded to your post. It's because you posted in the Tech Articles forum. The forum is titled "Tech Articles (Don't Post Questions". This is a section where articles are to be posted to help other users, not questions that are supposed to go in the other forums. Please pay closer attention to where you're posting. We've moved your post to a more appropriate forum.

 

[Honda4Lunch]

Thanks Ludachris...had to turn myself in on that one

Anyhow I was able to get the alternator checked and it's not charging...hmmm who would've thought that a brand new alternator would be crap. It's an autolite, apparently one of the better ones on the market cause the core is brand new, just the shell is used. Whatever, a new alternator is on it's way tomorrow. More to post tomorrow.