Fellow ziners,
Here's whats happening. First noticed the problem coming home from a long drive out of town(100 miles). Got home, shut the car off, walked inside, came back out and no juice. Im like wtf!
So I go and charge the battery. Two hours later car cranks over but no alternator voltage present. Ok. So im like time for a new alternator. Thanks to a post somewhere on here from phee I find out honda odyssey, mdx, pilot altetnators fit our cars. And their rated at 130, our stock is 105. I have a little sound system. Nothing serious. 250w for sub. 200w for doors. Nice upgrade im thinking. Also replaced battery. Duralast took a crap out. Wouldnt hold load.
Ok picked up a 2000 honda odyssey alternator. Bolted right in, same pulley, no problems. Start car still no charging voltage. Ok.
Go into service manual. Charged battery. Check. Check dummy light. Check.
The 4pin connector to the alternator are the "controls". Says to check for battery voltage on blk/ylw wire. Im getting 9.2 volts. Not good.

Im getting some voltage on 3 of the 4 wires. (9~9.5v). From what ive been reading it seems like all OBDII cars are the same colors on the alternator. Is that true? And my main question, where do I find this wire? Its supposed to route through the ignition to tell the alternator the car is running right?

Its routes first to the ecu fuse(#6 drivers side). Im waiting to get out of class to do a continuity test on that wire.

Anybody know anything about this?

 

Where are you testing that you arent getting any voltage? Are you testing the main wire coming off of the alt or at the battery?

 

Checking voltage at the battery.

 

Check the voltage at the alternator

 

Will do kris. But if theres continuity on tha batt/alt cable isnt that the same thing?

 

I also found my electrical manual to the car. Includes wiring/pinouts/locations. Will be doing a full out test this weekend. Checking grounds and all. Im wondering if its the ignition. We have problems with ours and my radio and dash cut out and in at times.

 

could be caused by bad battery or alternator as well.....

 

daily-- I see you are a 99 = with its well known ignition switch problem!!
has that been replaced under recall once,, or afterwards the 3 more times it will die in cars life?
50 bucks at parts stores

Note: that prob can carry over to later years- especially if large amount of weight on the key ring--several keys,,wears out internal part and can interrupt power

 

New optima yellow top. 2000 honda odyssey alternator. Havent had it tested as of yet. Ive been in a bind since it hasnt been charging.

Tom....i need to go back over to owners.acura to check. I think it was fixed at least once. I really think thats what it is.

 

Problem fixed.

For some reason i wasnt getting full voltage thru the underhood fuse box. 12.5v going in 11.3 going out to the alternator.

I did the big three about a year ago with no issues so far so i wasnt sure about what was happening. cleaned all the grounds this morning and went thru the batt cable at the fuse box. cleaned everything, reinstall, back at 14.4v.

Also tested the ignition switch. it tested ok by the service manual. i did take it apart and it was dirty! so i cleaned it up.




now clean:



if anybody is brave enough to take theirs apart, it goes back together like this:


no cleaner was used, just a rag.

back to your regularly scheduled program. ill see you guys on the next one.

 

grounds are all over the TL- and just like other cars, need cleaning to keep it working best
low volts anywhere- first thing to suspect! dirty/loose grounds

did you put dielectric grease in the switch, or it didnt seem needed?
doesnt matter if acura replaced it once, they used the same part so its destined to fail~

 

I would let the parts store run a load test to make sure what the alt is putting out when needed

do that test after driving around an hour, so the battery is fully charged !

 

Thats whats I have to do now. Thanks Tom. The donor vehicle had 86000 miles on it. Got it locally for 41$. I want to know what the test numbers will be.

Bad grounds cause many a problems. Ever wonder why electronics act funny around the house? Possible grounding issues.

 

let alone also there to help keep any possible arcing down too, and taking out electronics from the voltage spikes
but also in there to help ensure smooth operation of the switch too


AND OP considering how some of those contact points look in the switch, i would just replace it to be on the safe side (especially since you know how to remove it)

 

dose anyone know where these wires or leading to mines some how got ripped now my alternator is not coming on i replaced it along with the battery twice still not charging everything look and work as should besides these two wires in the alternator. 2000TL passenger side