Hi, there

It has been like this for two weeks now -- almost every morning when I start the car, everything is OK except that the battery light keeps flashing for a minute or two then goes off. It also happens if I don't drive the car for a long time. Anyone has similar experience?Thanks!

 

OK, some new updates:

Got the battery and alternator tested at Autozone. They didn't find anything. The contact terminals seem to be pretty tight, there is some rust at one end though. One of the reason might be that the battery light only flashes in the morning when I start the car. By the time I got to Autozone, everything is fine. When the engine is off, battery shows 13.3v. With the engine is on, it shows 14.4v or something and it is charging. I came back home ~2hours ago. I just check the battery again and it shows 12.8v. Last weekend, I parked my car at the airport for 3days, and it shows 12.1v when I came back. I'm going to keep watching the pattern. Any thoughts?
Thanks a lot.

 

do you have a system in ur car? maybe that mighta been like eatin ur battery..

 

maybe there is a small short somewhere

 

John and Cyber, Thanks a lot!

To John: Which "system" you were refering to? I barely turn on the radio/CD when I drive, but I did use AC quite often recently.

 

system..sound system. large subwoofers that require a lot of electricity. thats happened to me before.

 

I work for a lead acid battery MFG, in one of my former jobs I took all of the Customer Tech Support calls. Each cell in a battery when it is considered fully charged has an Open Circuit Voltage (OCV) of 2.11 volts. So, a 12 volt battery has 6 cells and would be 12.66 volts when fullly charged. Depending on the car MFG'r and their secs. will charge a battery at high 13 to low 14 volts. When your alternator is maintaining the battery or you are using a battery charger you will always have a higher OCV after the car is shut off or the battery charger is removed, this higher voltage is refered to a a surface charge and will bleed down over time. When you park your car you have to remember it is placing a small load on your battery at all times to maitain the compters and clock. This small dischared is refered to Lot-Rot and you will see car dealers from time to time with the hoods up and charging car batteries on the lot because the batteries are older and time is taking its toll on the battery.

1) The diodes in your alternator may be leaking small enough where the test equipment at AutoZone can not detect the problem. In the past I have taken the alternator out of the car and into a shop that rebuilds them and have shown the diode leak.

2) Your 03 Civic (if it has the OE battery) could be 4 to 5 years old depending on the build date and depending on the quality of the MFG'r could be at end of life.

David