I'm at a lose on this guys, I had the battery tested when the cruise control shut off and the lights started to Dim, it was scary had my 11 month old 30 miles outside of town. Anyway made it in fine, the next day it acted like the alt was bad so I had one in the trunk from my last accord 91, sold it since then. So i took it to get it rebuilt they said that it looked fine and that I should look for another problem. Well I'm thinking if this alt is good then likely the one one the car is as well, they suggested the ground I agreed and put that on last night. Drove it around since the batt seemed weak, and it looked fine did a quick off and start up to test it when I got back np. In the morning startup was fine but when i stopped for the donut it barly started. So I"M LOST, I was going toput the alt that got tested on but from what I know about cars, if the car runs then the alt is fine???? but if it wont start then it's the batt. oh yeah after I got the batt tested they said it was dead so I got a new one so the batt is new, the alt is ASSumed fine based on performance but the car wont start up now, please send me seom ideas I hate to send it to a shop for something simple

 

check your battery terminal cables, i know it sounds stupid, but mine kept coming loose and my battery would lose charge because of it, if not i'm at a loss

 

check that the plugs going into your ignition coil are secure, and also ****, it could be your distributor, i had the same thing happen to me with my dist.

 

my accord just didnt start sometimes at all,, i knew for sure it wasnt my alt, cuz i t was brand new, and it wasnt the batt bk it was fully charged at 11.8volt, then it was the stater, haha, i took it apart and clean then boon everything works great after that... i think it was

 

i think he attempted to throw a possible starter problem into the mix, good idea, check it out...

 

are you still using the weak honda connectors for the battery posts ? mine had the same problem until i decided to get rid of them and got some new ones.

 

if you got rid of the honda ones, what kind do you have now? I have seen companies like rockford sell stuff like that but i didnt know they had ones which would replace the stock ones...

can you give us some info on where you got them from, maybe it can help this gentleman and perhaps this could be his problem.

 

I would replace all the wires connecting to the battery. I had this same problem and it ended up being some corrosion in the wires were limiting the amount of power getting from the battery to the starter.

 

how much does it cost to replace all the wires connecting to the battery, i guess its the negative which sources to the ground, right?

And then the positive i guess which would run to the alternator, i think, im not even sure...accordstore.com has replacements, so yea, i think i might actually do that, i wonder, will a thicker gauge cable make a difference?

 

http://www.secureleadercom.com...block

if anyone is interested, i think the link should work fine. If not, well, you get the idea.

 

WoW thanks guys, I'm going to use this as my guide on things to try hell for what I save I may be able to do all of these things around 250, money's tight with the new lil one. So today I'll do the positive cable I figure it's just as old as the other one so why not. THen I'll do the starter and then the distributer. Great advice here guys just what I was looking for.

Any other thoughts?

 

You should be able to get battery to starter wire for less than $50 at the dealer or at a local parts store for about $20

 

hey, quick question, can i change the guage of the cable that is used for the negative and positive wires?

 

I have a '91 Accord EX wagon with a similar problem.

As soon as I turn the ignition to "on", all power is lost - no lights, buzzer, etc. Of course won't start. But will start when jumped. Note: not all ground locations work for negative jumper; works if placed on short ground connecting fender to battery terminal.

Also, if I let the hood drop from a couple feet, power is restored. That is, until ignition is turned to "on" again...

While this "no power" situation has just begun recently, I have further been experiencing symptoms of a faulty main relay over the past few months. Typical symptoms - maintains spark, but dies after moderate runtime, usually starting after 5-10 min. rest. Have not replaced main relay yet, as this is back-up vehicle, and was usually good for my short commute.

Insights on "no power" root cause? Starter? Bad ground (and likely location)? Thanks!!

 

Not a problem, as long as you change to a heavier gauge (lower number).

Hope this helps!

 

yea, that was the idea, i wanted a thicker cable, but im just not sure where to buy the terminal connectors from.

 

Sorry - I probably insulted your intelligence with my reply.

I have had good luck before with partsexpress.com - might want to check there. Good luck!

 

lol, no you didnt insult anything, ****, on the internet you cant take anything for granted, lol...

partsexpress, is that for OEM or for everything?

 

it's basically custom a/v applications - they claim to be "the #1 internet source of audio, video, and speaker building components, for home, office, mobile and pro sound" (wow)

 

I checked it out, cool site but they had the battery terminal stuff for an audio system and nothing just generic, i guess i might just do advanced auto parts or autozone.

 

i got the gold plated ones from autozone or murrays ( i can't remember) they were like $9 each. yeah corrosion is a big problem on the negative cable that connects to the tranny

 

damn, see i could get all the parts, but im not super mechanically inclined so i dont know if i would get raped paying for the labor for all this. Although, im sure, once i got under the car and observed all that needs to be done i'd be ok, just lazy getting to that starting point.

 

Well guys I've had 4 good starts so far and I haven't done anything else, so I think she's fine but I want to get this other stuff done since I'm keeping the car for a while longer til next year anyway, then I want to send it to my daughter since she will be of age. Thanks again fellas

 

wow ok I got totally lost here. I think we got like three separate threads jumping around in here. Anyways...

For the original guy that started it:

First problem that comes to mind is your cables and terminals. Which really are pretty easy to do yourself. If you got some hefty wire cutters and some basic wrenches you should be good. Its pretty self explanatory, just make sure you don't short out the terminals by touching a tool to the red positive terminal and then to the frame.


I would almost definitely say that it is NOT your alternator. I've driven on a bad alternator and trust me, as the battery starts to die you won't have power to generate a spark and so the engine will get slugish and eventually die. That doesn't sound like the case here. You also said it starts up fine if jumped, which makes me think its an electrical connection.