94 honda civic fried battery

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.

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...

"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.

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

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

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.

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