simpson188

I was driving my 2008 Honda Accord which has 150,000 miles from MA down to VA when the battery light came on. I brought it to the first mechanic I could find and he found that the alternator had faulty diodes and was not holding any charge. I found this perplexing as I just had a new alternator put in by my home dealership 2 years ago. However, the car started right up and the battery light no longer came on. So I brought it to a nearby Honda Dealership and they said that oil was leaking from the spool valve onto the alternator and that I would have to replace both the spool valve and the alternator. What's worse, the oil spillage would render the 3 year warranty on my current alternator void. Now just last week before my trip I brought my car into a trusted mechanic who replaced one of the valve cover caskets that had been leaking some oil. Why wound't he have also mentioned the spool valve leak? The dealership wants $1200 to replace the spool valve and to put in a refurbished alternator. That's a lot of money for a car this old with 150,000 miles. Does this sound right? I am open to suggestions here.

Thank you very much!

DCFIVER

If hes a trusted mechanic,why are you asking the forums? Shouldn't you ask him?

Its possible he forgot to mention the leak, thought the valve covers were the source of the leak, or simply screwed up and didn't do a thorough inspection. (it is VERY easy to get tunnel vision in this business)

Pricing varies wildly across the country. In the past Ive found RepairPal.com to accurately reflect the average for any given area.

The cars monetary value has little bearing on repairs. You have to look at the what the vehicle is worth to you. Has it been reliable, cheap to own(repairs,maintenance, insurance). Are you still happy with it?(aesthetically...etc...) Do you just want something shiny and new?(nothing wrong with that)

Those are the kinds of questions you should ponder when doing repairs....