hey guys! newb here! i just purchased a 92 2wd 5 speed 22re and have a problem. she fires up and you can rev her up no problem but as soon as you give her any kind of electrical load ie: headlights, brake etc. she stalls. from what the previous owner has told me the truck ran fine and one day the left hid bulb went out, and started sputtering and died, he then changed the bulb/ballast and the truck was fine for the next 3 days and then this. from what i can tell all the fuses are fine sprayed carb cleaner around the vacuum hoses and found no leak the battery is fine as it starts the car everytime the alternator runs the truck even when the battery terminal is removed i dont think it would be in the timing since she fires up, idles and revs fine, only up until you give her electrical load is when she stalls out. any advice on where to start diagnosing this would be much appreciated. im a technician for honda so automotive stuff is not really something im just starting out with but i would like to know if there is something that you guys might know that could help me out.
You might have the alternator tested for amperage output, it might be weak and turning on electrical stuff is drawing more power than the alternator can put out.
Have to agree with nook. also have the battery tested, some times when the alternator dies the truck will use the battery, so it can kill the battery becuase the alternator isn't putting out power.
See thats the thing. It starts, idles and rev fine everytime. I didn't think it was in the starting and charging system since it only stalls when load is on. She sputters and bogs when load is on and gas is on at the same time. If it was the Battery then it wouldnt start or wouldnt have over 13v to crank. It wouldn't be the alternator since its on the battery the whole time, if the alternator is bad the battery should still carry the load for a certain amount of time wouldn't it?
U might be right but wen the alt starts goin out any type of load will cause the motor to bog down. U said it has HIDs, do the ballasts have a aftermarket harness wit a relay or 2? Unplug the HIDs and see wat happens. If it still dies then go to the alt
These alternators stock suck! I am running a Load Boss 170 Amp Alt on mine and havent had a hint of probs
i removed the ballast and bulb and installed stock bulbs on it. same thing cant drive the thing since it bogs and dies. i just dont want to shotgun diag this thing and start throwing parts at it. right now im to the point of buying an alternator and hopefully fix it. ill look into that, thanks
TEST THE ACTUAL OUTPUT OF THE ALTERNATOR AND BATTERY. yes, I'm yelling. Telling us you're a dealer tech then not wanting to properly test systems properly because 30 year old shade-tree diagnostic techniques say it's OK doesn't inspire a lot of confidence. Don't go online asking for help then ignore what people give you. removing the battery on a running vehicle can fry the electronics because the voltage will spike briefly as loads are changed (as you disconnect the battery) and there's nothing there to buffer the system (the battery) that's been the rule of diagnosis with EFI for 20+ years. Likewise, starting has only limited bearing on the batteries actual quality and health. I might not be a honda tech but I did do human flying effects and general tech theatre for my first 4 years of school and auto tech for the last 3 years of school, working in a shop the last 2.5, and lurking forums and fixing my cars/friends cars the whole time. not quite as impressive on paper but it sure helps in the real world. [/rant] Test the battery and alternator properly, then voltage drop tests on the main cables. I have seen, once, a situation where the alternator put out 13.5v OK but would not adjust to more than simply running the engine. add in the lights, radio, etc and it just didn't keep up, voltage dropped down to just what the battery provided. this was the original and a rebuilt alternator. out of lazyness, I threw on an alternator I found in the back of my garage and viola. works fine with everything on.
first off, i never did ignore anybody's advise on any off this. although i had constructive criticism. and never did i say that i never properly diagnosed the problem properly. this is true but i believe nothing on the truck is sensitive enough to be affected by this. im not saying its good for it but "shade tree mechanic" ways are good enough for what im trying to do. thats great like mentioned before, i have tested both components the proper way. the alternator puts out 14.2v at idle and yes it drops output BECAUSE THE TRUCK DIES. this^^^ would be a less ******** way of giving advise. its hard to diagnose the problem because of the fact that any load put on would kill the truck. theres no in between were you can see what the alternator is doing. battery and alternator puts out around what they are suppose to. i have found a few hack job wiring under the hood and under dash and am woring on cleaning those up at the moment. also i have found a few ground wires not hooked up. do you guys happen to know were i can view or download a service manual for a 92 pickup 2wd?
i know right! ok here's my input on this yo! I think the alt0rnator is outputting enough voltage to keep the battery pumped.... next off, if you know it will lug down the engine with an electrical load, then you run nothing so nothing draws from the battery... i think once you have a vehicle running, it does not run off of the battery, just the alt0rnator, so it has enough juice for the charging of the batray (lol battery) and enough juice for the ignition system... doesn't need much amperage output from the alt0rnater to run the ignition... just take the damn alternator to clownzone and let them check it.. should be free, they should give you amperage specs there too... or your voltage regulator took a sh1t and died. DONE NINJA NOW GOOD NIGHT! oh and one more thing, don't be mean to people here, they happen to be VERY, VERY SMART! they are just trying to give you input ok. Useful in life.... Btw, HONDA IS NO RAAACCEE CAR.... 5.0 MOOOSTANG iss.... and some idiot at school thought the NSX has a V10... LMFAO!
hey hey! he started bitchen me out! lol anyway yes ill be taking the alternator off tomorrow and have it tested. do you guys have any company that you recommend as far as aftermarket alts? i know dude said load boss but i think they have bad rep? anyways ill update tomorrow, thanks
dang kids lets settle down! i'm just glad it's not another thread on what size wheels will fit, how to flip a ball joint, or what grille will fit without modification we had a problem similar to this on a 86 ford taurus that my parents owned (first year they had a computer). the car would die sporadically, usually as you were about to take off from a light. my dad spent about 1k trying different things including replacing the ecm. what ended up being the problem was somebody replaced the fan wiring and tied it into the main power wire for the ecm using wire nuts. it worked fine until the crappy things got corroded and when the fan would come on it would take so much power that it'd kill the power to the computer. so i'd say start by checkin the previous owner(s) wiring jobs, as well as all the grounds.
ok so i cleaned up more of the wiring hack job that the previous owner had going under the hood. still no better. took the alternator out and sent it to nappa (since they were the only ones that had an alternator in stock) to get tested, "wink" said "your alternator wont even charge a dildo battery" so i said "great! problem fixed! send me a new one!". got the new alternator, fired her up and shes still doing the same thing. found ground wire on the rear from motor to firewall corroded and broke off so i went ahead and sanded both contact points and installed a new ground cable. also realized a hack job ground from distributor (wire just wrapped around the dist. bolt) to the driver side fender! then found the old corroded ground wire right under were it was suppose to be. went ahead and sanded those and installed a more proper ground from distributor to the motor. fired her and she and she runs like shes suppose to! all loads and all! drained the water in the cooling system and put antifreeze in her and found oil in the mix so yeah.....
well now i know!! If my truck starts dying im guna start at the radiator!!! lol jk seriously tho im glad u figured it out. those grounds wil fck alot of things up if not on proper.
I should have chimed in sooner, but was on the way out the door when I first read the thread. Always check electrical connections first when odd issues like this turn up. 99% of the time it will be a loose wire or bad ground. And it doesn't take much, most factory harnesses allow for only one engine ground, and if it's loose or corroded, games over. It wouldn't be a bad idea to add a set of ground jumpers, from the chassis to the body, then on to the engine block. Also, anytime you do wiring upgrades to the positive side, ie. adding amplifier(s), compressors, lights, you MUST upgrade the ground wire to the frame and body. Otherwise the ground will be the weakest link in the circuit. I've seen so many setups with #2 wire feeding a distribution block and the stock #10 ground wire from the battery to the chassis.
