richard233

Hi,
I'm a bit new, so I hope you will forgive my lack of knowledge here.
I have a 96 Honda Accord DX. 175K miles on it

I had a bit of a scare on the freeway today. I'm driving, relatively slow,
on the freeway (traffic) and all of the sudden my radio dies, my abs light goes
on and the gages die (at least the RPM, I'm watching the road).

So after a panicy moment, the stuff all comes back. It repeats a few seconds
later and then a couple minutes or so later while I'm going down the off ramp.
I still have control of the car brakes, gas, steering.

I get onto the regular roads and the process does not repeat itself.
So, what I'm looking for is a bit of advice of what process of elimination I should
go through to make sure the problem does not occur again.
Unfortunately my driving/commute time does not allow me see my mechanic right
after work. But, if it's serious enough, I'll take tomorrow off to get it looked at.

Thank you in advance for your time, efforts, and hopefully sage advice.

Richard

accord99power

try alternator, get a test done at autozone etc.

Intense3.2

Deff. the alternator.

Duane_in_Japan

Pick up one of those cheap LED battery voltage indicators that you plug into your cig lighter socket and monitor that when things are going funky, dont forget to monitor the road too.

The alternator is grounded through its body, its mounting to the bracket mounted to the engine, run a redundant ground from the alternator body to the battery neg post.

accord99power

this wouldnt be pretty if not followed correctly haha!

BlUeDC2nEr

first i would probably get a battery/alternator test done @ Honda, autozone, ect.

does the battery indicator light on the guage cluster turn on? if it does then it would probably be the alternator.

when was the last time you changerd your battery? do your dash lights dim when the car is on? 90% of the time the battery just needs to be changed.

richard233

Thanks for all the replies so far.

I'm not 100% sure of when I bought this battery. I always buy the longer life
ones and I think it's maybe 2-3 years old. In any case, this is the <U>first</U> event
of this type. I don't have any other indicators of problems. I rarely allow
problems to persist. The only one I currently allow is the SRS light which is
reset via the paper clip trick and usually does not come back for months at a
time.

If I can get it checked tonight, I will, and likely see my mechanic tomorrow.
I don't really want to miss work, but I like to stay in one piece.

PSPEC

This may be a known (or unknown) problem in the 96-97 Accord. I have had this happen to me before. I have a 1997 EX 4 door built in USA. My ABS light is always on because my ABS motor is broken. When it first went bad, the ABS motor would buzz for a few minutes after starting the car. Then it would stop and the ABS light would come on.

Some times I would be driving, and the dash lights, A/C, radio, would all start flickering on and off and you could hear a clicking noise like when the blinkers are on that was timed with the flickering.

I thought it was a short somewhere, but after reading your problem it sounds to be the same thing. Maybe when the ABS motor overheats it messes with some other relay or under dash wiring?

There may be a TSB (technical service bulletin) from Honda about this issue.

Lets keep this thread bumped untill we get some more feedback from other members.

PSPEC

could this also be from an old alarm system that may have been installed in the car that we don't know about? Maybe its freaking out.

P_Adams

All this can be attributed to a momentary lose of electrical power (not just a drop, but an actual 'off' loss) which the ABS module detected and set the lamp.
I would look for the most reasonable reason why a Honda would loose power; like maybe a Ignition Lock switch failure......

P

04yfz

I have recently experienced this same problem with the flickering, however it only occurs in park and neutral. Has the OP or anyone else found a solution to this problem yet?

JDM_Ej

lol this is too funny. I just came in the Accord forum to search about this exact same issue. A friend is having this problem with his 96 Accord.

Mangotreemechanic

You always give good advice. Would the ignition lock switch cut out the engine too?

concretegirl

I am also having an issue. 94 Accord EX F22b1 engine. Doesnt always happen but when it does I lose power to the radio, also I can hear a relay clicking. Every once and a while the speedometer will drop to zero. It's intermittent so it happens fast and it's over. I've been thinking it was a ground issue but now its acting like it could be a wheel speed sensor. It usually happens when I hit the brakes. I also noticed that at 42 mph the abs light stays on as long as I maintain that speed.

If this were an ignition switch issue I would have this problem at a stop which is not the case. Only happens while driving.
Alt issue would imply the same. Should happen at all times but is not the case. (Alt tested @ 14.xx volts)
Batt light does not come on.

This is surely something strange and has me worried. Anyone else see issues like this?

woowoo

Sorry to bump an old thread, but I am having the same exact problem with my 96 Accord.

Periodically my radio will go out, my abs light will turn on, and my dash clock will reset. Additionally I hear a clicking sound behind the glovebox like a relay is struggling.

Anyone find a solution to their problem?

HondaPartsHero

http://techauto.awardspace.com/ignitionswitch.html

start by checking the ignition switch

woowoo

I'll check that out. Thanks HondaPartsHero.

concretegirl

I had that problem and what it ended up being, lol, corrosion on the battery, we also changed the battery to, might try looking at that.

phootbag

If your dash clock resets you are probably losing battery voltage. I would check for a voltage drop at the battery/clamps or the cables themselves. Batteries can have intermittent internal failures as well.

HonBeer

Why does users hijack the original Post? So rude. To lazy to come up with a post of their own......

phootbag

Because the original post is so old it's information is only relevant for reference purposes.

The question now becomes; What have you contributed to this thread?

woowoo

I "hijacked" the thread because I was having similar issues to what was already listed.

I find it makes searching more beneficial for others if a thread that is already on topic gets the question answered in it rather than similar threads with out answers popping up.

It prompted concretegirl to post a follow up with a solution.

My problem so far appears to only be related to bad terminal connections just like concretegirl. I cleaned the connectors and replaced the bolts on the terminal clamps with newer ones that seem to stay in place better.

If my problem continues and I find another solution I will come back and post it so that again it will make the information easier to find for future searchers.

concretegirl

And Your very welcome, Glad I could help

JZeezTypeR

distributor or ICU

devildog1994

That's right, i just hijacked this old thread, see woowoo's post for the reason.

Has anyone actually solved this one? It's a service writers' dream...

I have a 98 v6 and one other symptom I have is all the warning lights come on SRS, doors, trunk, etc. flash after going over moderatly rough surfaces. Not sure if it's related to the alt but this will eventually kill the alt (I'm on my 4th).

I've heard bad ground or computer (ecu icu?). I also checked all the ground straps and they look fine on the multimeter. Also just read shorted rear o2 sensor wire, any simple tests for this?

Can someone tell me where all the engine ground straps are supposed to be?

Thanks for any help.