Problems with my custom 92 Acura Integra LS NEED HELP!!!!!

[Gary8333]

Hey everone I am new to this site and just got my first Acura Integra off of Modifiedcartrader.com, a few weeks ago...
I live in Columbus, and bought the car from Dayton. The car worked perfect for about a week and than I stated to experience some wierd occurrences.... First off, my idle would go down when I turned the steering wheel left or right. Also I would hear a popping sound off the two 12' Subwoofers in the trunk, and the 7' Panasonic DVD Player Head Unit started to all of a sudden turn on and off and reset by itself. Also , just the clock would dim, no other interior lights in the car sporadically. The car still drove after these problems occurred, for about three days, as I would cruise around the neighborhood in it. Than as I was driving the car back home from dinner, it stalled literally as I was about to park it into the garage. The interior gauge cluster lights just all of a sudden dimmed and the car died. The next day I went to National Tire and Battery, bought a bew battery, and replaced a post. It had a Kinetik Deep Cycle Battery in it, hard to believe that it would all of a sudden go bad...... It has a High output 135 amp alternator too, so I didn't think that could go bad...... But at this point I am thinking there may be a draw somewhere,. If anybody has any suggestions I am open to them, or if there is anybody with experience with 2nd Generation Integra's in the Columbus/Dublin area, that could help a brother out, I am all Game. Thanks,
Gary

 

[Samurai_Blue]

sounds like an electrical problem for sure, i think it could be your altenator. but im more concerned on the idle fluctuating when the wheel moves...the rack and pinon arent connected to the motor in anyway besides the power steering hoses i think.

 

[wite2nr]

check the alternator. turn on the car, with the car running disconnect the negative battery terminal. if the car dies your alternator is bad.

 

[Aussie]

Wow,

Your car is idling lower from the power steering pump, you know it has this belt, that connects to the crank, that draws power from the engine to turn it.

The other issue is the amp drawing power from the alternator. Get a capacitor and solve your problem.

 

[dc2GS-R]

The other issue is the amp drawing power from the alternator. Get a capacitor and solve your problem.

I would do this as well as getting the alternator tested. Alternators are pieces of crap, they can fail whenever they feel like it. A 135amp alternator should turn enough juice to power the amp and everything else if functioning properly. But then again maybe it's just me and my hate for the flawed design of alternators since I went through about 5 or so (i lost count) of them in 2 years

 

[heykosal]

i think it could be your altenator. but im more concerned on the idle fluctuating when the wheel moves...the rack and pinon arent connected to the motor in anyway besides the power steering hoses i think.

LOL! What Greg said...

And this is a prime example of why I would never buy an already modified car..

Good luck with it Gary.

 

[Gary8333]

Trying to Diagnose the problem........

Hey everybody! Thanks for the feedback, all is very much appreciated. Today A good friend of mine came over, he is an installer at circuit city. He came with a Multi-meter. He first tested the amps, everything tested out fine, the wiring he says was done top notch, all stinger gauge wire. The ex-owner was very anal about every wire my friend said... As well as the distribution blocks and the fuses. None of the fuses under the hood in the stock fuse box appeared to be blown at all. We tested the alternator, by doing the test one of the members from this site suggested. So the alternator tested out fine..... The only thing that was wierd was that when the multimeter touched the battery terminal of the new battery when the car was running(of the acura), it ran voltage .1, which the installer did not understand, because we than tested the meter on my daily driver and it ran 13.4 volts on the stock battery terminal. So at this point we are baffled. Something is draining the battery, so much that, even when you jump the car, from another car, and you take the key out, the car is dead, completely. So I need your help guys? Any suggestions....... We disconnected the capacitor and still the car was dead. So that is most likely not the culprit, even though it was running with a gauge display constantly, even when the car is off. Any Suggestions. Thanks.

 

[Aussie]

Yes your system is draining your battery because your alternator can't keep up. So now you have a capacitor? I didn't say that the capacitor is causing this more that the lack of one is the problem.

 

[Gary8333]

I Ran Into Another Problem.......HELP??!!

Hey everyone, okay..... I just recieved the new alterstart alternator yesterday and me and a friend of mine installed, it took forever, but we swapped the one one that was on the car with the new one. My friend noticed that the plug in the back of the bad alternator, was a circular one with a 3 or 4 pin configuration, and the New Alterstart 150 amp alternator plug in the back is square. So I was like that was wierd............ So I installed it on the car, checked and connected all the grounds and started the car up. It started initially and than died...... So They have to have sent me the wrong alternator I would have imagined..... Or is there an adapter I can get for this alternator. My friend said that the engine was swapped, for a V-TECH engine...... Could this be why the altenator plugs were different? All help is needed and appreciated. I am going to call Alterstart in the morning, but don't want to look like an idiot when speaking to them. Come On Guru's, I know you can help me.
Thanks,
Gary

 

[lsvtecna]

First off after checking that altenator, you should've checked the battery, to me it sounds like you have a dead cell, which will run the car provided there is no other draw from after market shit like 4000 led lights and 4 amplifiers sharing one fuse block and one capacitor, take that altenator back and put the money into an optima battery, red or yellow it doesnt matter, also check to see that your belt to your crank isn't stretched, for the 18 bucks it is I would go get a new one as well. Make sure that you put it on right with the right deflection as well or in a week the alt will start squeeling and your back at square one, some battery chargers have like a maintenance mode on them that can go through your wiring and I know that you had the best circut city install guy the world has ever seen go through it, but even though all the grounds look good doesnt mean that they are and they will tell you that the alt is weak or that there is a bad ground/ pooched battery.

 

[lsvtecna]

if you hear popping noises comming from the subs, like say when you put your ebrake down or press the break, its a bad ground, could be from something on the cars stock electrical system or from all that aftermarket stuff that you have to have grounded like your amps and caps and that voltage will find it's way through your system, try not to mount your audio stuff dirctly to the frame of your car, use rubber washers in between things, it makes a difference, Also throwing a bolt or screw through the car and grounding your shit on top of paint is not a good idea either, paint is like a resistor, that is why you see these guys with jacked systems and corrosion on the grounds.

 

[lsvtecna]

i'm with aussie on the WOW, lol

 

[daf]

I say it is one of 3 things. Your Alt, Your grounds, or you really need a compasidor for that system bad.
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[Gary8333]

I appreciate all th ehelp, But.............

Okay My friend came over, who works at curcuit city again, he originally checked all the grounds and did not see any loose or bad grounds. We also replaced the starter with a stock tested unit, which has a warranty for 90 day's...... The battery could not have a bad cell, I mean I just bought it, from National Tire and Battery. I also got in touch with alterstart and they sent me the correct alternator a 150 amp one with an upgraded power wire. That has since been installed as well...... Once we installed the starter yesterday,and jumped the car, the car ran relatively fine, for about 3 or 4 minutes. The idle stayed at about 1,500 rpm's and after about 3 minutes started to slowly decrease to 1000 rpm's and than slowly sinked to 0 rpm's. Now I noticed that the clock is still dimming and well as the headlights, even with the whole audio sytem diconnected. When I step on the accelerator pedal the lights(which were dim) become brighter as well as the stock clock located on the dashboard. All the fuses are in perfect order and none are blown........ Even after the New alternator, ground wire, after checking all grounds and amps and what not. Everything came back fine. My friend seems to think that it is something with the MSD Ignition system. The car has a sport compact MSD ignition system, could be there be a bad coil? Or the box be bad in general, Is there any way to test that out, without me spending alot of money by having the car towed to Acura and they charging 90.00 an hr, hourly rate? I am going to check as another member suggested the belt to the crank, as it may be extended. Where would I be able to get one of those belt's, online? or somewhere locally? I really do not not want to have tow the car anywhere, as It is my other baby. Are MSD Ignition sytems expensive or does ANYBODY HAVE ANY OTHER IDEAS........ Thanks, NEED HELP IN COLUMBUS OHIO??!!
Thanks,
Gary