Hi, I'm in Washington and i have a 97 Honda Civic that has been giving me problems. a few months ago I put it in the shop because alternator fuses kept blowing. the shop fixed it, saying part of my wire harness was corroded. keep in mind it does have 200k now. a couple weeks ago i went out to my car one cold morning and it wouldnt start or turn over. after a few attempts it worked. it did this twice more untill it reached really bad conditions, where it would never turn over again. one day i had to push start my car to get back home when i was out of town. one my way home i started gradually losing power. my lights started dimming, then i lost rpms and all gauges went whack-heat through the roof. i was pretty concerned. but now it is broken down a mile from my house. as i was driving it lost all power and i lost throttle response like it was out of gas untill i removed it from the gear. now it doesnt even push start. i replaced the ign switch and that didnt seem to fix the problem. i have followed all the basic diagnostic procedures i am familiar with, any suggestions?

 

Have you checked whether fuse 15 under the dash is blown (see fuse 15 TSB in my signature)?

 

Your alternator is not charging the battery for some reason. Take the battery out of the car and hook it to a battery charger and charge it up. If you don't have a battery charger, many parts stores will do this for free. Put the battery back in and it should give you enough juice to drive home.

Like Ron said, likely the harness has shorted out again, this is a common problem on the '97 model. You would know because fuse 15 will blow. Or the alternator is just plain shot this time. Also check the alternator belt, it may be broken or loose.

 

it also could be a bad alternator and might need to be replaced. sounds like your car was running on only battery.

 

dito.... sounds like your battery is dead....
but if you have the battery tested you also need to test the alternator.... they both need to be in good working condition or the bad part will destroy the good part.