Last night a friend and I were poking around under the dash trying to find where the antenna comes out on my 1992 EX 1.6 (where the heck does it come out?) and when I left I went to get gas, everything was fine, then moved about 50 feet to the air hose, everything was fine. When I was done airing up and drove away about 2 seconds later the battery AND abs light came on and has stayed on.

Like I said we had been poking around under the dash so could it be something under there? Also earlier in the night, I had installed a new fuel filter and it leaked a bit. Could that have caused it? It has long since dried out. Another thing, when I was airing up the rear passenger tire, I heard a little pop. Kinda like the bead was re-seating. Could that be anything?

Haynes manual told me to jumper the diagnostic port to pull the codes and that the ABS light should flash the codes instead of the cel. When I jump the diagnostic connector, the ABS light stays out whereas it has been on in normal driving. The battery light does stay on though. When I remove the jumper and re-start the car the light is back.

I pulled the back-up fuse as well as disconnected the battery and that does not clear it.

What else could I check?

 

Don't worry about the ABS yet. Take care of the battery light first. When you have a basic electrical problem and the computers don't get good power, they can set false codes.

Check the fuses under the dash. Check that the alternator belt is still in place. Measure the voltage at the battery with the engine running but everything else off. If less than 13 volts, the alternator is not charging the battery. That will soon lead to the battery running down and the car becoming disabled.

 

^+1

 

You guys are so smart!

As I was driving to work tonight, I thought the dash gauges were a little dim. The radio went off and came back on several times and then went dead. The tach and speedo started bouncing wildly in unison and then both went flat. Meanwhile, the dash lights got even dimmer followed by the headlights.

Had to jump it 3 times to get it back home. I'm positive that it's the alternator but am not looking forward to changing that bad boy! While I'm in there I may as well change anything else I can that is right there. Any suggestions on what else I'm gonna have to take off anyway or what else would be easier to do while I have the alternator out? I figured the belt for sure. (Couldn't even tell if it was on there and was in too much of a hurry to get to work to care.)

 

In general, when the charge light turns ON, the alternator must be replaced. Nevertheless, a bad battery can also cause this problem, so be sure to check whether the battery is okay and whether the battery connectors and terminals are clean and making good electrical contact.

 

the alt comes out of the bottom very easily you just have to take off the alt bracket as well.

 

maybe in the '92 it comes out easily but in my 98, it sure took a while getting that lower braket mount off.

 

If you can get the bracket off, then it comes out easily. The hard part is getting the bracket off. If it really won't budge sometimes you can still move the alternator toward the center of the car and finegale it out, or undo the ball joint and pull the axle out of the transmission to get clearance.

 

CHeck your current battery, maybe just get a new one. Test everything out and see what happens. May just be a bad battery.

 

They must've made some civics with more clearance. There is no way I am going to get this round peg through that square hole without removing the axel and even then it looks like it may be tight. Bolts came off easily though. Bracket and alternator came off without much problem.

I did test it with my Husky battery charger that also has an alternator tester on it so I'm fairly certain that it is the alt. Battery took full charge with no problems. Alt failed test.