'93 Acura Legend complete electrical failure

I have a '93 Acura Legend type 2 which I love. However, last week I jumped it because I don’t drive it much, unhooked the jumper cables, let the car run for about 10 minutes; I was ready to go so I turned on the headlights and the car immediately just died, like COMPLETELY. No lights, clicks or any electrical activity of any kind. Complete deathly silence. I assume it’s either a main fuse, relay, or else (gulp) a short somewhere.

If this could be a fuse or relay, does anyone know which one(s) it could be??

Thanks!
jonesybones

The alternator may have been damaged when you allowed the vehicle to idle after jump starting the battery.

Alternators are designed to maintain a charge on a fully charged battery. Not designed to recharge a dead battery. So if the alternator is no longer putting out and the vehicle was running on the battery, as soon as a load is applied to the electrical system such as turning on the headlights, that kills the battery and there’s no power to run anything.

What you need to do is, disconnect the battery and fully charge the battery. Reconnect the battery and start the engine. With a voltmeter measure the voltage at the battery. You should see 13.5-14.5 volts which means the alternator is putting out. If the voltage drops from 12.5 volts it means the car is running off the battery.

Tester

Awesome. I’ll give it a try.

Thanks, Tester!

Sincerely,
jonesybones

One time I damaged an alternator diode while providing a jump-start. Doing what Tester posts is where to start, but if a problem remains consider the possibility of a defective alternator.

Clean and tighten the battery connections too.