Can you unhook the positive terminal from the alt and see?

 

I don't see an Alternator causing a draw but just to eliminate it, unplug it completely and run your draw test again. 50 milliamps will drain a battery over time. I don't know Honda's spec but Toyota (where I work) minimum allowed parasitic draw is 20mA or less. Wen I did a draw test on my s2k before installing a lithium battery I was only seeing 7-8mA after the car sat for 30 minutes and that number never deviated until I opened the drivers door.

 

When I did a draw test on my car this summer I was getting about 7 mA if I recall.

No idea about the alternator though, I guess it could have an internal defect , if the draw goes down to about 7mA with it removed then you probably have your source.

 

When I did a draw test on my car this summer I was getting about 7 mA if I recall.

No idea about the alternator though, I guess it could have an internal defect , if the draw goes down to about 7mA with it removed then you probably have your source.

 

every Honda needs to be below 50ma. Ideal is less than 30ma. Be sure your testing this on the neg. Side of the battery.

 

I did use the negative side.
When I took out the 15A alternator fuse my reading dropped to 0.00 so I guess < 10 mA? Would this be abnormally "low"? I think I'll take the alternator out this weekend and run it up to advance auto for an exchange... but I really don't want to unless it's the only culprit.

 

Are you getting good voltage values off the battery? Engine off and at idle. Car at 1500RPM's --- with and without load. My guess (and it's a WAG) is that one of the diodes in the rectifier maybe bad. Draining voltage to ground, when engine is off. Or short in regulator. Volt readings should reflect this.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQysE2oJAuo


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQysE2oJAuo

 

Pulled the alternator when I got home from work today, took it down to advance auto and it tested bad on their bench. So, for future reference, even if you only have a 50 mA draw through your alternator (like me) it will test 'bad' at least on their machine. I was worried, since I didn't know what the spec limit was on their machine - especially everything else with the alternator is fine.

Luckily mine was covered since I bought it 11 months ago so I get a free replacement

 

Good job. Your diagnosis procedure worked!

 

I forgot to clarify on what I found out after installing my new alternator. When I reinstalled it I checked the drain at that point and it surprised me that it was still 0.05... I was kinda mad. Then I realized that I have an Odb2 Bluetooth device that I always leave plugged in. When I unplugged it the drain went to zero! Which I kind of thought was crazy... Considering when I pulled the alternator fuse it went to zero before. Does the odb2 port wire through the alternator somehow? Anyways, I had no idea those devices have a moderate drain. I think my alternator went bad because it would drain too hard and it was a hard start for my alternator each time so it went bad prematurely - leading it to test bad at advance auto.