2000 Acura 1.6 el

[MR2Kid]

Hey guys, been a while since I have posted, but too much pain of missing my old mr2 and too much nostalgia here. Despite this, I'm turning to bcmr2 members for my very off topic post, because frankly, other car club forums / people don't compare to mr2 owners

I needed a little commuter car for a longer commute, so I bought a 2000 Acura 1.6 el (5spd). Been very happy with it so far, for what I paid. One electrical gremlin to work out though that I'm hoping someone here will have a some thoughts on.

Problem is I will have intermittent flickering/pulsing of electrical components. By intermittent I mean for maybe 30 minutes every 1-2 weeks or so. Seems to only happen when it is cool out and/or damp out, but not sure if that is related. I will notice my headlights flicker, dash lights flicker, heater blower pulsing, and oddly enough my rear speakers cut out. My sub/amp also cuts out, which I have powered directly from the battery, and grounded to the body independently (for the record, the problem existed before I installed my stereo/sub). Also, sometimes when I touch the brake so that the brake light goes on, all the components return to normal until I release the break. Also sometimes turning on my AC and heater blower full will normalize everything, sometimes not. Seems a bit odd and random.

I'm about to head out and test the battery and alternator, but with the problem being very intermittent, I'm not sure I'll notice anything. My other thought is I need to check for a bad ground somewhere, but other than the ground for the negative battery terminal, I'm not sure where else to look. Otherwise I am assuming time to check alternator, belt, and voltage regulator? .. Would love it if it was just a bad ground.

Thanks for any help. Certainly miss this group.

[m_b]

The same thing happened to my car when the alternator was on it's last legs so definitely get that tested.

[camshaft]

Your obvious start would be verifying battery condition and alternator output.

As well what exactly the voltage is at the battery when this fault happens. Then to trace back the fault to the system that is faulting

Numerous items can cause a situation like you have explained.
- bad battery terminals, bad body grounds, engine grounds,
-same thing on positive side
-battery and alternator issues
-ignition switch problems

[MR2Kid]

Thanks guys. Never disappoint, and nice to see old faces on here. Maybe I can catch up with some of you at a coffee meet in the future. Will of course update when I source out the problem.

[MR2Kid]

bump for this ongoing issue.

It has been 2.5 years since I've had this issue. It has not gotten worse, which is why I have not resolved the issue. Other reason is that every time I test the battery / alternator, the issue is not present and tests come back fine. After 2.5 years of having this problem, my battery is still good, and I have not had any charging problems.

The only other thing my research has uncovered is that honda's/acura's have an electrical load detector, which when fail, cause similar symptoms.

Would prefer not to send it to Honda for hours of shop time, trying to diagnose an issue that is very intermittent.

[camshaft]

Please provide test data

Type of battery tests
Type of alternator tests

Your next step would be to bypass eld circuit and control. So that alternator is independ of car and see if problem happens again.
Or start replacing parts