Hey everyone,

So, I finally got my 91 SI back on the ground with the brakes and suspension fixed, but now, the battery is being drained. I know with electrical issues its really hard to know where to look. The battery should be fine; it's a brand new Odyssey PC680 dry cell. The car cranks and runs fine as long as the battery is charged. Something is draining it when the car is off. Another iffy thing is the tachometer randomly drops to zero rpm at idle even though the engine is idling fine with no hesitation; it seems as if there's a bad connection somewhere between the tachometer and the ignition system. Does anyone have some suggestions for where to start looking or what the common culprits are?

Thanks in advance!

check the alternator, thats the heart of your whole charging system.

if its not that its probably the cells in your battery

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Originally posted by Car And Driver Magazine April 1988
"The CRX Si is a magic combination of desperate entities part front-wheel-drive economy sedan, part utility wagon, and part Ferrari."

I kinda forgot to post some more info behind my situation...my bad. But, I edited my first post and added the extra info. I don't believe the alternator is at fault, but I'm no electrical expert so I won't rule it out. Something is draining the battery when the power is off. The first thing that comes to my mind is that somewhere a power wire is being grounded and maybe it's related to the ignition system since the tachometer behaves erratically...just my initial guess...? I'm not sure.

run a digital circut tester on the battery and see what the no-flow charge is...

sometimes when i start my rex, the tach reads nothing, if you lightly smack the dash it works fine....so i have a loose connection on that, maybe you have the same thing.
run a dmm(digital multi-meter) and let us know what the readings are,make sure your on the right setting

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Originally posted by Car And Driver Magazine April 1988
"The CRX Si is a magic combination of desperate entities part front-wheel-drive economy sedan, part utility wagon, and part Ferrari."

Ok...so I checked some things out with a multimeter. With the car completely off there was 8mA being drawn from the battery. After pulling some fuses, 1.4mA was going the the hazard light (I'm not sure why this would be pulling any current with the car off) and 6.5mA was going to the clock, cigarette lighter, and radio (probably just the clock...there's just an old ass cassette player in there). I wasn't able to locate the last 0.1mA because it was flippin cold! So, is 8mA enough to drain a dry cell PC680 within a matter of a few hours? I'm starting to think I just have a faulty battery...even though it's practically brand new...err. Also, the car has a Kenwood alarm system from 1989, but I made sure to unplug the fuse on the back of the central processing unit (it appears to be non-functional too but it's hardwired to the dash wiring harness).

Anyone have any ideas...bad battery, loose connection, etc.??

I will be having the battery checked too, but it's the weekend and I'm going back to school so I won't have the results til later.

why dont you.....for cost sake

1. charge your battery, and take it out....see if it holds a chrage through out a couple of days...if it dosent its your battery.

that the cheapest way i can think of, im not too keen on electrical

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Originally posted by Car And Driver Magazine April 1988
"The CRX Si is a magic combination of desperate entities part front-wheel-drive economy sedan, part utility wagon, and part Ferrari."

If i get a chance tomorrow i'll see what kind of drain my car has while off. 8mA doesn't sound that high though to me though so i'm thinking the battery might be the problem.

Wiring issues are without a doubt the worst.

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2000 S2000 Hardtop

nine.five.four.

Get your Tuner-Junction stickers today: http://tuner-junction.com/TJForum/showthread.php?t=4377

A loose connection at the terminals can cause a battery to drain as well. Check that out.

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2001 Prelude SH
1990 CRX Si
Hondas are an addiction

Terminal connections were tight. The battery was at about 10.7V before I left my parents' home (I disconnected the terminals before I left too). That's about where it was after being drained while checking current draws and such. I tried charging it back up with my dad's homemade trickle charger but it stopped at 11.01V...not quite sure why. I'll get my dad to check the battery again.

i could be wrong...but i think your battery is bad. i think it should be pushing a 12V minimum.....i think....

mine pushes a 12.2V when the car isnt running...

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Originally posted by Car And Driver Magazine April 1988
"The CRX Si is a magic combination of desperate entities part front-wheel-drive economy sedan, part utility wagon, and part Ferrari."

Alright, my dad checked the battery and it was at 10.9V which is a little higher than it was before, and the battery is out of the car. Is it possible that a faulty battery won't hold its proper charge but won't drain either? It seems to be just staying around 11V, or maybe, it wasn't charged properly. The car wouldn't crank when I first came home so we jumped it off, let it warm up, and drove it around for about 15 - 20min and then shut it off. A few hours later it wouldn't crank again; thus, I figured something was amiss and started checking voltages and current draws.

The next step is to have the battery tested.

An ODYSSEY battery is fully discharged when it has an open circuit voltage of 11.6 volts, this is refered to as a 100% depth of discharged (DOD) battery.

Pulled that from Odyssey's website under the charging section, Im not sure really if I understand it 100% but according to that, your new battery wont take a charge.....

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Hmmm...interesting. My dad hasn't had a chance to get the battery tested, but when he does, I'll keep everyone updated. This was my second PC680. My first one is in my auto rex and has no issues. This one may just be a fluke...we'll see.