Civic EG

I don't drive this car very much, so I unhook the negative cable from the battery. I'm not sure if doing that is a good idea. The negative side is easier to take off. Does it matter if you take the - off instead of the + side? So I decided to drive it this morning. I popped the hood, put on and tightened the negative cable. I started the engine and turned on the wipers to get the dew off the windshield. And the wipers worked way faster then they ever have. So, I turned the lights on, to see what would happen, and they blew out. Nice expensive bulbs gone. I noticed my battery light was on. My alternator and battery are only about 3000 old. I drove it 6 miles to work. The battery light went off and came on a few times. Everything else worked fine. I only had to work a couple hours this morning. So, I drove it the six miles home. This time the battery light never came on and the wipers work like they used to and I had no other problems on the way home. Any ideas as to what could cause this?

Could be a faulty voltage regulator. Your altenator has it built in so try and get it checked out:

I'm also thinking the negative cable might not have been making a good contact. I have to push it down really far to get it tight enough on the post. I've driven it a couple more times now with no problems. I still have to replace the light bulbs though.

Disconnecting just the negative is the recommended method.

Honda made the battery terminals too big. Even at fully tight, they slip right off.

suspendedHatch wrote:Disconnecting just the negative is the recommended method.

Honda made the battery terminals too big. Even at fully tight, they slip right off.

It's the cables that are to big, it's hard to get them tight on the battery terminals. But, I think that's what you mean though, as Honda didn't make the battery.