This 2000 Honda Civic came in with the complaint that the battery would go dead. There was a slight language barrier between myself and the customer so I performed the usual tests to find out what was going on. I checked for a battery drain condition while the battery was being recharged with my battery charger. There was no drain present. After the battery was fully recharged I load tested the battery and it was okay. I checked the charging system and the alternator was not charging. I noticed when I turned the ignition on that the battery light did not come on during the self test so I proceeded to check for blown fuses. Sure enough fuse number 15 in the underdash fuse box was blown.
I knew that on some Honda Civics they were bad about having a wiring harness on the underside of the intake assembly short out on a bracket. I looked at this one and it looked like the design has changed a little and is no longer a problem. Here is a link to an article that I did about that problem on a 1996 model Honda Civic.
While I was under the vehicle i looked around at some other things that are on that same fuse circuit and here is what I found. The heat shield at the bank one sensor two oxygen sensor was bent and rubbing on the wiring.
I straightened out the heat shield and pulled back the protective cloth loom.
One of the black wires was rubbed through to bare metal wiring.
No power on it with the ignition on and the fuse removed/blown.
Power present with the ignition on and a good fuse installed.
Now when the ignition is turned on the battery light comes on as it should. A secondary issue that the customer did not mention was that the speedometer did not work either.
It does now that the short has been located and repaired.