For the last few weeks, I've noticed that my head unit has been randomly shutting off on me and then coming back on. Was never able to establish a pattern so I just assumed that the head unit was going out on me (it's over 3 years old).
Prior to making this assumption, I did the basic checks which basically meant that I checked that the wire harness on the back of the head unit was good and snug, the fuse was OK and the faceplate (removable) was not loose - even went as far as to clean the contacts on said faceplate.
I also figured it was only related to the head unit and not an actual power problem because none of the internal settings for the head unit were lost and I also have an Alpine GRA-320 which did not lose any of it's internal settings (and the dash clock always kept the current time not to mention the car started without any hints of a weak battery).
"Time to get a new head unit", thought I.
So... this morning I go to start Jiggy and all I hear is the starter solenoid engaging and then nada. I notice the dash clock goes blank. First thing that comes to mind is dead battery. "Swell...", thinks I. So I popped the hood and wiggle the cables to make sure their snug and notice that the ground cable doesn't require much effort to move.
A quick check with the volt meter shows that the battery had +12.5 VDC (a Gel Mat battery) but Jiggy refuses to start. Not having the luxury of time this morning, yoink the battery out and was about to place it on the charger when I remembered that they're going to cut the power in my neighborhood for about 6 hours while they do some maintenance to the power grid.
So... I decide to place it on the charger later this evening and I take the Accord into work. As I was driving into work, I wasn't 100% convinced that I had a dead battery... the loose negative cable kept coming to mind and decided that perhaps it was time to replace the stock battery cable.
On the way home, I stopped in at the local Kragen and picked up a 2 gauge negative battery cable -- mostly because the 4 gauge cables were 4 feet and longer and I've heard that bigger is better... ;^)
When I got home, I checked the battery and it was showing +12.7 VDC and I hadn't placed it on the charger...
So I went to remove the old (thin) ground cable and noticed that it not grounded itself to the frame but to the engine (near the clutch cable adjuster) as well. Installed the new 2 gauge monster and then ran a 12 gauge ground wire from where the stock one was connected to the engine and the end up at the negative post of the battery.
Attempted to start Jiggy and he fired up without hesitation. Placed the volt meter on the battery and saw the alternator was pumping close to +14VDC to the battery (and my volt gauge inside the car also reflected this reading). Drove around the neighborhood for a bit before shutting Jiggy down.
Having said all this, I thought it somewhat ironic that I followed my own advice... :^)
We'll see if Jig starts up tomorrow morning and if not, at least I know I have a good ground (frame and engine).
CRX Owners Group President (http://www.crx.org/southcal)
1990 Honda CRXsi (http://www.hooligan.cc)
ICQ # 3714283 (nickname: godzilla)
Alpine Drive (San Diego County) - February 8, 2003
http://www.crx.org/southcal/events.html
