98 civic ex. every time i start now the battery light stays on>> but it still seems to be charging???????

 

Could be a variety of things... not sure, but if it was putting out too much voltage it might also cause the light to illuminate, not sure though. Maybe if it was fluctuating, also.

You could take a volt/ohm meter to the battery while it's running to see what it's putting out. Also might not be putting out enough, so the light is letting you know it's a problem, but it's still enough not to leave you stranded. Yet.

 

Could be the voltage regulator. When I went to an H.O. alt (220 amps at 2k rpm) I was seeing like 15.9 volts due to a bad regulator. I got an external regulator that's adjustable and it doesn't go over 14.4 volts now.

It could also be the belt slipping at times.

 

i pulled the positive cable off and it died, so im guesing it the alt.

 

It's probably not the alt.

On Civics, the alt charging wire goes to the fuse box, which goes to a distro, and back to the battery. When you pull the battery wire, you disonnect the power to the fuse box.