jdm h22a swap. does this mean my alternators bad??? help! - Honda Prelude Forum

tastyratz · 10-11-2002, 07:34 PM

i just got my car back a few hours ago and it seemed to run fine but all of a sudden it wouldnt start! i couldnt figure out why. it was making a clicking sound and my lights flickered when i tried to start it. not cool. so i had my friends push the car and i dumped the clutch and started it that way. it started right up and ran fine. now when i get home i thought id try something. when i revved the engine it made a whirring sound like a kind of fake supercharger or something. and when it idled all the lights got dimmer.then when i shut it off it wouldnt go back on. good thing i got it home but bad thing this happened. i used the alternator that came with the motor it was still bolted on. anyone else have a problem with an alternator that was left on like that? anyone able to confirm this? any help appreciated and you can even call my phone and hear this thing if you want drop me a pm. its weird.

ForTehNguyen · 10-13-2002, 10:27 PM

is the alternator belt tensioned enough? you can ask local auto parts places to check the alternator output for you and you can find out if its bad. Could be a lose belt or something

Crate · 10-13-2002, 10:42 PM

well.. i dunno about others. but im actually running the h23 pulleys.

Using the Si ac/compressor, and the Si pulleys on.. all belts ps/ac&alt belts are all h23.. my friend who did the swap said summin about how the belts were a different thickness on the jdm pulley and the h23 pulley on the altenator.... might be a problem there?

Crate · 10-13-2002, 10:44 PM

haha, i just read the rest of your post.

Sounds to me liek your belt fell off.. i went to pepboys to replace mine, and the lady sold me the wrong one (i am a idiot for not noticing that) but i put it on. It fell off and slid between teh pulley and the casing around the camgears/belts. It made a high pitched whining sound when i reved.. EXACTLY like a super charger.

I thought it was the altenator until the next morning when i looked at it in the daylight, and the belt had follen off.

OR the altenator is bad... 1 or the other. altenator is 180 bux at Pepboys (i priced it a week ago) with a 70 dollar core charge. so 110 bux.

Mark94 · 10-14-2002, 07:08 AM

I'm experiencing something like this with my daily driven Civic. I had my alternator replaced two years ago, but last Thursday my battery died an hour from where I live. I was able to jump the car and drive the hour home. As soon as I got home I changed the battery. The next night I could hear a whine when I rev the engine (sounds like a supercharger also).

My radio, lights, etc. all work fine since I replaced the battery. Did I cause damage to my alternator driving an hour? If so, how long do you think I have before the alternator quits on me?

Sorry to hear about your bad luck also! It's probably the alternator just like mine.

Mark

tastyratz · 10-14-2002, 08:29 AM

its funny i switched the battery and now i seem to be fine. maybe cuz it was a fresh drop it was acting up funny or something. i went to autozone and they tested my altenator and said it was ok. at first the guy attached the cable wrong and said i was putting out 199 amps!! we didnt know what to think of that. then he did something else and said it was ok. whew. so maybe the battery was bad. i dont know. i wonder. i think im gonna put it back in to see since it was new before the swap. if it fails ill keep the other one in the trunk.

p.s. my belts are on fine nice and tight he he

92H22A · 10-14-2002, 01:10 PM

I'm not too sure about the car not starting, but I swapped in a JDM h22a a little while ago and I have the exact same engine whine that goes up with the revs. Its extremely annoying and sounds exactly like alternator whine, but I took off my ps and alternator belt and it was still there...so it appears to be coming from the head (tbelt or sumtin else in there)

Glad to hear yours went away.

Mark94 · 10-14-2002, 02:16 PM

Come to think about it, I had a whine in my Prelude right after I had the Timing belt replaced. I believe that the new tensioner was a little tight and caused the whine. It eventually stopped making the noise.

It's probably just the tension on your belts and it will eventually stop.

Mark