My car died on my a few hours ago! Yay! While I wuz driving, so my guess is that it's the alternator. Becuase I was bumpin' the system that my friend just gave to me. Now my question is, What alternators are possible for me to put on this like? 94 EX alternator??? My lights still comes on and all that jazz. The car wants to start it turns but just won't. Help?

Is it the alternator? No. Is it a problem with the fuel line? Probably. What is the problem? I don't know yet.

Hey,

It probably was an alternator, but you never know. I know a system in my car myself (around $3,100 now) and I know of the extreme power drains.

Though here's a thought, a bunch of car audio guru's told me to go out and get an Interstate battery, see if that would fix my power management problems. I've never had my car just die while it was running like you have, but the sound system could of drained it totally. Since I got my Interstate battery I don't have any major issues, unless I'm bumping and come to a dead stop with my lights and AC on.

I don't know if you know this or not but your electrical system works like this: You have a battery which everything electrical in your car runs off of. No matter if you turn the engine on and are driving around town, or just sitting there in the ACC mode, the power comes straight off the battery. Your alternator just simply charges your battery; it doesn't take over when your car is running or anything. So if you have a weak battery, no matter if you have an aftermarket alternator or not, it could cause the problem. Once the battery is dead, that takes out your spark to the plugs and well could cause what happened to you.

My advice would be to go get your battery tested, and if it's low/dead get a new one (an aftermarket or an Interstate). If you can get your car there, take your car with you because most garages can test your alternator to see if it's outputting enough volts to keep the battery charge level in a proper range. But in either case if you have a system that really takes some serious power (like 1000 watt+), than you might want to look into finding yourself an aftermarket alternator also.

As for where to go, I don't know of many places off the top of my head. I stick local to my area because I'm really good friends with the local audio installer place. I can always take a walk down there tomorrow though and ask for some brand names if you need?

Just a thought...
~AciD

Thx for the info Acid. But we just tested the battery earlier and it has enough juice to start my car and all that. I'm getting a friends mechanic to come look at it 2 morrow. If worse comes to worse I'll just probably get him to do an engine swap, but it's probably not that serious. We will see.

LOL damn that must be nice to just "do an engine swap" like that! But really, are there any other factors you are not mentioning that might lead you to think that the engine itself is having problems? If the car was nice before hand and you dropped the sound system in and then it did what you said, that would be more of an electrical problem. Though that's how I see it, I have more of a detailed background in car stereo's than car engines... as of yet.

Was it able to just turn over the engine or was it able to start the car and run it? At least you know the battery itself isn't dead, but if you have a friend who's a machanic that's a cool thing to have. See if he can bring you another "fresh" battery to try, and/or voltage meter to check what your altenator is giving off.

Hope it's something simple...
~AciD

If it makes a clicking sound when you turn the key then your battery is dead. If you're bumping like you make it sound like you are then it could be possible you knocked something loose. It really doesn't sound like it's a Electrical problem to me though. :2cents:

i can't imagine a big system on a civic, they got the tinyest lil batteries lol

i can't imagine a big system on a civic, they got the tinyest lil batteries lol

Yah, well if you want a big system it's not that hard to put a different kind of battery or multiple batteries in your car. Also switching the alternator will help. (even though it will kill hp and if you have very little hp in the first place then...)

Acid I'm not sure if thats entirely correct. The alternator actually does do all of the work while driving. Try this.. Idle your car, open the hood, disconnect the battery while the car is on and tell me what happens... I tried this and drove it around for 30 min and guess what... everything was working WITHOUT a battery. Alternators do more than you think.

So I pulled my codes.
Code 67 - Catalyst System Efficiency Below Threshold (Malfunctioning or defective catalyst system). WTF does that mean? Google aint helping either.

Really sageuvagony? See I was told something different by a garage, and I guess never really thought anything different. Then again that was with my Ford Probe, and well I don't even need to say anymore with that. I will try that sometime, probably get a big kick out of it!

Either way though I think it's probably an altenator and maybe battery problem with how things were explained. Like I said unless there is more wrong with the engine than explained.

Regards...
~AciD

It says emissions?! I don't live in cali! And how would that effect my car not turning on?

Ok so I fixed it. Ignition Coil. $70. Took 10 minutes to put in. Now to get rid of the code.

CMON JUST GO TRY IT.. at least unplug it while its idling... let me know the results lol. just dont feel dumb. If anything I'd even love to record it. I found this out because of my moms 99 camry not starting. We jumped it, then drove the car around and shut it off then tried to turn it back on and it didnt work.. turned out that the battery wasnt getting a charge because the contacts were dirty. My dad came up and said "You have to clean these contacts" and pulled the battery outa the car while it was still running... Now how could a car do that without a battery? :loser: