94 honda civic fried battery

My '94 Honda Civic is on its second battery this week. The car says it's overheating, but the only thing that I find wrong is the battery. The battery keeps frying. It starts smoking and acid starts dripping out. I've heard that it might be the alternator or something,so I changed the alternator on it the first time that it fried the battery, But, even with the new alternator it still fried the battery. but I don't know how to go about checking if it is the alternator. I would really like some help so I can fix my car as soon as possible. I don't' want to keep buying a new battery. Could it be an electrical problem? If so, how can i check it without spending too much money... PLEASE HELP ME!

Reply to
chela7603
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If you're in the US, head on down to one of the big auto parts chains (Pep Boys, Auto Zone) and they'll throw a meter on your charging system for free.

Reply to
Joseph Wheeler

YOU HAVE ALREADY SPENT MORE THAN A GOOD MECHANIC WOULD CHARGE. That said you apparently have the knowledge to diagnose the problem so take it to someone who does...

Reply to
Woody

"chela7603" wrote in news:7af86967c63ec@uwe:

The alternator is overcharging, obviously.

Since the voltage regulator is inside the alternator (which was replaced), the next suspect is the Electrical Load Detector. Assuming no wiring problems at the alternator's connectors, of course.

It would be wise of you to check the running voltage with a DVOM. If you don't know how to do that, bring the car to a mechanic. It will be far less expensive for you to that than try to fix this yourself.

The longer you leave this, the more things will get damaged from the overvoltage, and the more you will spend.

Reply to
Tegger

Best way to check this is with a volt meter, (cheap versions can be bought at Harbor Freight for less than $10). Voltage at the battery should be around 14.5 volts while running and better than 12 volts when stopped.

Anything higher that 14.5 volts will tend to boil the acid in the battery to the extant that it will smell. At 17 volts it is very noticeable. I suspect that your voltage is even higher and is indicative of a regulation problem.

JT

Reply to
Grumpy AuContraire

Hi, Sounds like overcharging problem. Make sure battery and electrical system has good grounding.

Reply to
Tony Hwang

Grumpy AuContraire wrote in news:NW7Zi.10474$ snipped-for-privacy@bgtnsc05-news.ops.worldnet.att.net:

Beware; the 1st Harbor Freight DMM I bought read too high on it's DCvoltage ranges. (and thus ALL the functions) I had to return it and got another that read OK. Check it against a new alkaline cell (1.5V) or a lithium coin cell (3V) before depending on it's readings.

Reply to
Jim Yanik

Heh... I thought that the Harbor Freight stuff automatically implied a caveat...

Reply to
Grumpy AuContraire

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