Q: Check Charging System light is on

asked by on January 19, 2017

I went to two local shops to check the light both said battery and alternator are fine but couldn't figure it out. I took my car to a Honda dealer and they did their 99$ inspection and found the battery sensor on the negative terminal of the battery is at fault. I got the part # from them 38920-TR0-A02 and replaced it myself. The check charging system light is still on and I am at a loss.
My car has a manual transmission.

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Hi There, There are a few other things that may cause the charging light to come on indicating a fault in your charging system. You may have a failing voltage regulator that could be allowing the alternator to supply too much or too little amperage to the battery resulting in the battery never maintaining a consistent charge as it is designed to. The voltage regulator is a unit that regulates the charging of the battery by the alternator. When the voltage regulator is not working properly, this may result in the alternator allowing too much power to be delivered to the battery resulting in damaging wires and prematurely sometimes destroying the battery. A common sign of this is usually the acid inside the battery boiling causing the battery to swell. You may also smell a bit of smoke due to things potentially getting too hot. In other cases it may result in the alternator not supplying enough power to the battery, resulting in undercharging the battery or not charging it at all. I would recommend having an expert from YourMechanic come to your location to diagnose your vehicle’s charging system.

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