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battery not charging.

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Old Sep 7, 2013 | 09:51 PM
  #1  
kraneous's Avatar
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pistons are for brakes
 
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From: Canada
battery not charging.

Hey, so I'm having a weird issue with my 93 FD. I just bought it a couple weeks ago and found that it had a pretty good crack in the rad. I replced it (i think it was stock) with a koyo. After the replacement the car ran fine at first but after about 10 minutes I was stopping at a red light and the charge light, abs light, and the 2 lights above the temp and pressure guages all came on. At first I thought it might be because of a loose battery terminal clamp that has been causing me problems (sometimes I have to wiggle it a little to get the car to turn over). I wiggled it and tightened it and the lights went off so I went for a drive (about 30mins). When I started the car again the lights all came on again...dam. I managed to get it home but by the end the stereo wouldn't work, the wipers were slow, the windows were slow and I felt a slight rocking at red lights. So I replaced the terminal clamp with a new one and had to boost it to get it started. I ran it with the jumper cables for a few minutes and the warning lights went out. So I removed to cables but the lights came right back on. The only thing I can think is that either the new rad takes more juice than the original or something got bumped in the install. Any advice would be very very much appreciated
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Old Sep 7, 2013 | 11:53 PM
  #2  
TerryD's Avatar
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From: Toronto, Ontario
Check the charging system? Is the alternator charging the battery?
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Old Sep 8, 2013 | 12:05 AM
  #3  
kraneous's Avatar
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pistons are for brakes
 
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From: Canada
I'm pretty sure the alternator isn't charging the battery because my electrical stuff slowly started shutting down as I drove, then after I turned the car off the battery didn't even have enough juice to start it again.
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Old Sep 8, 2013 | 12:18 AM
  #4  
rxmiles's Avatar
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You have you're answer. The alternator or voltage regulator are bad.
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Old Sep 8, 2013 | 12:22 AM
  #5  
scotty R's Avatar
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From: niagara , ON
if you take a multi metre to your battery when your car is running and the battery is loosing power consistently then its your alternator, happened to my buddies civic a couple weeks ago . i replaced the alternator and battery and car have been running fine since
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Old Sep 8, 2013 | 12:23 AM
  #6  
kraneous's Avatar
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pistons are for brakes
 
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From: Canada
Yeah, I just thought it was weird that it was only after I replaced my radiator. What are the odds that the problem just happened to appear at the exact same time. I was hoping maybe someone would have a simple fix like "you probably knocked x wire loose" or something.
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Old Sep 8, 2013 | 08:56 AM
  #7  
gerald m's Avatar
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From: Pump Handle, SK. Canada
Fix your battery clamps before you do anything . Might not be the problem but it sure doesn't help to leave them dirty or loose . check all electrical feeds for corrosion and clean . If the battery clamps won't SNUG up nice replace them ( molded cables are much better than the old bolt on ones .. Won't cost much and should be done anyway . Alternators don't like charging when there is no where for the charge to go .
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Old Sep 11, 2013 | 10:50 PM
  #8  
thinkingrotary's Avatar
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From: florida
i had a 95 eclipse that had the same thing all i did was cleaned the terminals off and it worked fine ....
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Old Sep 12, 2013 | 08:10 AM
  #9  
kraneous's Avatar
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pistons are for brakes
 
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From: Canada
Originally Posted by thinkingrotary
i had a 95 eclipse that had the same thing all i did was cleaned the terminals off and it worked fine ....
That's what it ended up being. When I took the ground off of the alternator so I could rip it out and take it in for testing I saw it had a lot of corrosion/build up on it. I cleaned it with a steel brush and it seems to be working fine now. Thanks for the help all!
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