As you guys know.. it snowed like a foot today. I was plowing the streets with my car.. anyways...

I'm coming back from downtown Toronto today around 1:30 and it took me until 4 PM to get home. The gardiner expressway was a real beating for my car. Today I used about 1/5 of my gas tank getting downtown and back from downtown (cumulative). Revving in 1st and 2nd gear all the way back from downtown can do that I guess since we weren't moving faster than 10 km/h all the way home.

(Me and carpool guys and girls passed a cop on the Gardnier and offered to wash down his window with our snow removal brush but he said no thanks and we did our own car.. lol. It was so slow on the highway that they got out of the car and started to wash down the windows while we were just coasting in gear 1 at idle rpm)

As most of you guys know.. I hate leaving my RPMs sitting at a high level for a long period of time... so I kept shifting to 2nd gear @ 10 km/h. That put me around 1000 rpm and I kept it around there all the way home. I had my A/C on since I was trying to defrost my frosted up windows. I had the blower on MAX... I had my side view mirrors defroster on and my rear window defroster on. Not only that, I was pumping some beats.

The problems didn't start occuring until I got home and went out a second time. I got home and shovelled my driveway and went back out, my car sounded a bit funny when it was starting (sounded a bit weak). But it started. After I was driving awhile and stopped at a stop sign and waited to turn left, my ABS light kicked in (it's been doing it all day)... and my stereo suddenly lost power and shut itself off and came back on 5 seconds later. Wierd.

When I got to a friend's house, I turned off my engine and went in and when I came back out 3 minutes later and tried to restart it, all my relays were going nuts (they were just CLICKING) when I tried to turn my key to START position. My car wouldn't even turn over! It was completely dead!

My digital capacitor had a battery voltage read out of 11.3 volts (engine off). Immediately I called a friend and got a boost... and I kept my rpms around 3000 all the way back home. And my battery read out was 12.5 (engine on) when I got home which was ok... But when the engine is on, usually I get a read out of 14.4 or 14.5 volts. Anyways, I drove it around some more and I got a read out of 13.3 volts after 30 more minutes of driving.

Long story short, I went to Canadian Tire and picked up a Automatic/Manual Battery Charger 2/10 A 6/12 V. I charged it up in my garage for 20 minutes @ 10 A and it was fully charged. I turn it back on and it was 14.4 volts idle!
Woohoo!

Moral of story: Don't use high drain electrical devices when sitting at idle rpms or you'll put damage to your electrical system and kill your battery. Also those battery chargers really do work.

 

I don't know why people use A/C to defrost window... I just use heat.... :shurgs: Maybe there is some physics or natural elements that I do not know about...

Glad you solve your problem, I was gonna suggest a new battery but you got it charged in no time

 

yeah why would you use A/C to defrost the window... cooling it down doesn't exactly defrost it... it defogs the window when you're really hot and the outside air is cool like in the fall and ****, but in the winter it's all about the heat, so then when the snow hits your window it melts right away...

 

Never knew you could use A/C to defrost your windows. You must have been freezing your *** off in the car.

 

The a/c is used to remove the humidity from the air.....this in turn helps the warm air do its work better. You don't put in on the cold setting though guys. (you turn on the a/c, and turn it to heat)

Newer GM cars automatically have the a/c turn on, when you turn it to the heat setting. They do this because I don't think you can choose an inside or outside air source, like you can do on a Civic.

IMO, it's a waste to always use the a/c to help. (but I do turn it on about once a week for around 10 minutes, so that the compressor stays in shape for when summer comes back to town.


What I do, is make sure the air is set for outside circulation, then I put it on high heat/high fan.......then I crack the windows open a bit. I set the direction for winsheild defrost and foot heat....after when my toes are nice and toasty, I move it to the windsheild defrost setting only, and bump the fan back down to 3 or 2.

 

By the way, this might be in the wrong forum.

 

you arn't damaging your electrical system by having a high load while at idle .... your just using more power then the alternator is making and hence reducing the overall charge of the battery... I dunno why your so scared to rev your car higher there is a cut off in the ECU that prevents high rev damage so if your not at that your not damaging your engine...

honda engines are built to take a beating... I commonly see that red line in a race and I have over reved it on down shifts before (up to 8500) do I worry ... not really compression is great, oil is not being consumed.... and it's still quiet....

No spleeny you can't be so scared of your car... that is not healthy for it.

 

I heard that A/C removes moisture from the air thus preventing your windows from fogging up further. Maybe I'm wrong.

I'll never rev so low again and use so many electrical devices and put so much strain on my car. That was scary when I couldn't even start

 

I believe thats what PULOVR said.....

Humidity is another word for moisture.

 

I got an idea.... stop using your car like a god damn taxi!!!

 

LOL

 

My mom's CRV is set to auto A/C once you have turn to windshield direction. I ******* hate it.

 

It's good maintenance for the A/C to run it once a week for about 10 minutes. If you don't do this all winter, it accelerates the decay/drying out of seals inside the A/C and you start to get leaks left and right.

 

Yes this is true, but you still should not need to have the A/C feature on for your entire drive home. I have a 03 EL (basically the same car) and I don't have to have the A/C function of the defroster on all the time, maybe only at the beginning and then my windows stay nice and clear. If you find you need it all the time to keep the windows clear, then you need to clean your windows.

 

PULOVR is right, A/C is used to remove humidity (moisture) in the air for defrost purposes. All Hondas equipped with A/C will activate A/C when it goes to Heat/Def (or Floor/Def) or Def mode. In some cases, you can switch it off, in some you can't. In some cases the light will come on and in some cases it won't. Almost all other manufacturers do the same thing so, it's not just a Honda thing.

Also keeping the temperature at the hottest setting and in "Fresh" mode works best for clearing windows. (Opening the side windows can also do wonders)

Also, just an FYI, the A/C compressor will not spin if the ambient temperature is below -5C...regardless if the light comes on or not. Also, at those temperatures humidity becomes less relavent...I would explain but it would require an Engineering course in HVAC (Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning) systems to understand....Yes, I have taken a course in HVAC.

 

Hey EL_Sport,

The '03 EL will activate A/C in Auto, Heat/Def and in Def mode with the light not coming on....

 

I've found it's best to leave the AC on for the first 15-20 minutes. It's good for the seals and remove the condensation for the car. I'll turn it off after that.

I've found that the batteries is the Civics don't have a great reserve and the alternators can't handle more than the basics.

I'll be upgrading everything over the next coupla years.

Along with the grounds.

B

 

Good to hear the car is back to normal

I keep the A/C on when I try to defog, for some reason it seems to quicken the process!

 

Is there a reason why my damn A/C turns on when it feels like when I have the heat blowing? My car loves having it on.

 

a/c is a luxury not a defrosting tool . you should not let your car rev so low it does more damage to the engine than at higher rev . and one thing to keep in mind when you start your car you drain the battery it takes you battery at least 30-50 km at about 3500 rpms to recharge it back to the stat before you started it .