I have a 2000 Civic LX. I have been replacing the bumper cover, bumper reinforcement and headlights from a previous owner.

I removed the battery to let it charge. When I went to place the battery back in the car, it blew the 80A fuse under the hood. It happens each time I try to connect the negative cable to battery. I have checked the ground from the trans to the body and from the battery to the body. I have cleaned both, but I'm at a loss as to what to do now.

Any ideas?

Could a bad battery be the problem? I've never had this issue before on any vehicle.

 

You are shorting the positive wire from the battery directly to ground. With no load the fuse blows. Check to see if you have an exposed wire from the battery positive to the starter and the starter relay. I take it this happens when you don't have the key on engine off, so its gotta be really visible.

 

Connecting the battery backwards will do that. Double check the plus and minus. If the battery were completely flat when you took it out of the car, you may have hooked up the charger wrong and managed to charge it backwards. Such a battery must be replaced.

If it's not that check behind the engine for a ground fault in the big white wire to the alternator. Or it could be the alternator itself. You can measure ohms with the battery disconnected to see if there is still a short.

 

It happens when the key is in my hand and the obviously the engine is off. I'll trace the grounds to see if I can find anything. Hopefully I can figure it out tomorrow. I'll check the starter and alternator grounds and cable as well.

I apprecitate the responses. I may post back up tomorrow if none of those work.

 

WHen I hook up the battery with the white wire disconnected (or connected) the horn goes off in a constant tone, not the honking consistent with an alarm.

Any ideas on this?

Also, I can get the battery connected w/ the white wire disconnected, but as soon as I go to put it back on it blows the fuse.

I really don't want to have to pay someone 100's or thousands of dollars to fix this issue at the dealership.

 

Have you checked the polarity? You are going to need a voltmeter to figure this out.

Which white wire? The one to the battery will kill the whole electrical system, the one to the alternator just goes to the alternator, suggesting the wire or the alternator is shorted.

Shorting the horn minus wire to ground will make it blow constantly, this can happen in the front bumper area because of a crash. Pulling the stop lamp fuse in the underhood fuse box will disable the horn (and of course the brake lights).

 

The white wire that goes from the fuse box under the hood back to the alternator. Obviously i am not doing well with the electrical system, but I don't have the $ to take it to the dealership and have them charge me endless amounts of $. No one in my area knows how to work on honda's so I just keep tracing wires in hopes of something sticking out.

 

I've traced almost every wire from the front harness back to somewhere under the battery. I cannot find anything touching metal that shouldn't be. I am still blowing the 80a fuse and at $7 a pop with 5 down it's getting really really expensive fast. any other ideas as to what to look for?

 

Measure with ohmmeter. The white wire to the alternator should be nearly open circuit to ground in the proper direction (red probe on the wire, black probe on ground).

 

I suspect a faulty alternator. I had on that ground faulted and popped that fuse a few times.