car died....alternator maybe, please help

[gzagenius]

today my car started sputtering kinda so i parked it looked under the hood and everything seemed normal, so im on my way home and it starts it again so i get off the road, kill it, then look under the hood, and now it smells kinda like firecrackers, and it wont restart. well for a while my battery light has been coming on and it wouldnt start a while back so i replaced the battery and it ran fine for a while then the battery light started to flicker again, then it started just staying on, when i high-rev it the light goes off, so i thought maybe it was the belt, so the car died and it got towed and is at the shop now and in the morning they are gonna call me and i was wonderin, does anybody think its the alt. i think it is, and just so you know, i have no muffler since it fell off like 3-4 months ago, and i did the stealth free flow intake 2 days ago, could that have caused it?? should i get the alt. replaced or maybe just the belt?? but when it died i got a jump and it ran about 1/2 mile then did the same thing, my lights were dim but were completely off most of the time, and my hazards wouldnt even flash??

any help would be greatly appreciated, i love my car so much and i always talk about 190,000 miles and running strong and now this shit happened.....so should i just get the alt replaced, and should i put a stock air box back on maybe??
someone please help me, i miss my cb7 already, watchin it get towed away made me wanna cry

[92accordf20a]

that sounds like the alt is not charging the batt. or the batt. is not holding a charge... have them both checked and replace the defective one.. as for the mods, leave them the way u have them, they dont affect the longevity of ur ride...

[gzagenius]

thank you man, i searched and someone said free flow intake could cause stuff like that to happen, the batt is new, but prolly dead now, but i guess ill have em put in a new alt.

thanks man, i didnt think anyone would reply

[alb_accord]

mmm its the altenator. here is what u do to make sure its really it.

jump start u car. then disconect the battery. if the car keeps working then its not ur altenator. if the car dies after u disconect the battery then its the altenator.

but from what u said,,, i think its the altenator.

[gzagenius]

i would do that, but the car got towed to the shop so i can't, my dad was tellin me to do that along time ago,but i never did cuz i was afraid if it did infact die, then itd be fucked so i put it off

[alb_accord]

don't worry i am prety sure it was the altenator. but dude u should have changed it ur self. its very easy.

[gzagenius]

man, i know, but i have like no tools and shit, i couldnt even figure out how to tighten the belt

i feel like shit though w/o my cb7

[gzagenius]

well, it still clicked when i tried to start it, is there any possibility it could be the starter??

[gzagenius]

well, its 10 am and i got the car back, the guy at the shop it started up fine and the electrical system was charging at 14 volts, so i went and got it and the batt. light flickered a cpl times on my way home, so if i disconnect the pos. batt. cable, and it dies, can i hook it back up and start it or will it be dead and i would have to get a tow??

man i really need help with this, i dont know what to do

[Cactus]

Loose belt

Did the shop guy check the belt? It sounds to me like the belt isn't tight enough. When the belt is slipping the battery light comes on because the alternator is no longer being driven by the belt and so is no longer charging the battery or providing electrical power to run the car.

The other possibility is that your alternator is going bad, although in my experience alternators are either working or not, and there isn't an in-between stage where they work sometimes. The final possibility is there is a wire short somewhere in the charging system.

I would start with the belt and from there look for a short. The alternator seems to me to be the least likely candidate. The new battery should be fine once you find out why the alternator isn't charging it at times.

[gzagenius]

yeah man i was thinking a loose belt too kinda, since the light goes off at high-revs, so should i pull the pos cable and check it out still, im afraid to do that in case it dies then wont even start again



edit: im goin outside with the chiltons and imma try to tighten the belt, but i was gonna do that a while back and it seemed too hard so i might not be able to, anyone have any tips for tightening the alt. belt

edit 2:i went out there and maybe im stupid but i dont think i can tighten the belt myself, i just cant get in there

[gzagenius]

well it noon now and i went out and disconnected the pos. from the batt with the car running at it kept running so i assume its not the alt., i checked all the grounds i could see and they all looked solid

anyone think it could be a short or something, and where should i look, i really have no idea now that i did the disconect battery thing and it kept running, i figured it would die w/ a quickness

and when i disconnect the batt to see if the alt is working, do i disconnect the pos and neg or just the pos, or vice versa??
any help is appreciated

edit2: i unhooked the green plug from the alt and in it where the pins go there is this white chalky type stuff, should i try to scrape it out mmaybe, or is it supposed to be there??

[gzagenius]

aww shit i noticed one of my spark plug cap, and wires was up a little so i pulled it out and there was mad oil in there, i soaked most of it up, then i looked in the other cylinders and they all had oil in em where the spark plug is, im new to ignition, spark plug, distributor shit so i assume this is really bad


edit2: yeah i searched, lower or upper tube seals or whatecer, is it easy enough to do, or should i just have it done, anyone know the approximate cost??
and why would that cause my batt. light to come on??i hope its not a couple problems at the same time

[souldoubt]

Originally posted by alb_accord
mmm its the altenator. here is what u do to make sure its really it.

jump start u car. then disconect the battery. if the car keeps working then its not ur altenator. if the car dies after u disconect the battery then its the altenator.

but from what u said,,, i think its the altenator.

I would not do this,voltage spike can kill an ecu.i know some of you have done this,but it's not worth the chance of creating more problems.take it off and test.it can be done @ most parts stores free.

[gzagenius]

shit man, i already did it