About one month ago, my Accord died on me, and I had it towed to a mechanic when the battery died on the freeway. My car was load tested and scanned down, and nothing was found except that the alternator was going.

This was teh first alternator to go.

Another one and the one after have been replaced now, and after three alternators I am beginning to think that there may be a different electrical issue w/ my car, rather than that the rebuilt alternators were failing, as the mechanic told me.

After this 3rd alternator was put in, it ran fine for all of 6 hours and then every light came on on the dash like it had in the beginning when I took it into the mechanic.

Whenever I revv over 2.1k rpm, every light comes on on the dash, inc. battery light and then whole thing dims as the battery is sucked down, but if I drop the rpms down, the lights come back and the system starts charging again.

Someone help?! I'm sick of clueless mechanics and want my car back!

 

So, the charging system is fine. No blown fuses, or anything else easily noticeable. Each time so far the headlights have blown out when the dash lights come on while driving, but dropping the rpms in time def. resets it and it starts charging again.

Bump for some help?

I know someone here knows all about this...

 

Check your ground wire especially the one that goes to the battery to fender. That causes all the lights to turn on and lights not to work. Alternator goes bad cause your forcing the it to work harder due to bad grounds which will not cause the batterie not to charge rite.

ps. make sure you battery terminals are not corroded and tightened.

 

I'm pretty sure the alternator gets some sort of feedback from the electrical system that regulates how much it puts out. I don't know if this is done through the circuit fused with the fuse labled ALT or not, but it's worth looking for to see if it's blown. Then check the wire harness from the underhood fuse box all the way to the alternator and look for damage. Also check the connector that plugs into the alternator, looking for possible bent/pushed in pins.

Also do what Alex13mod suggests. Good luck and post back with the fix when you are succesful.

 

I unplugged my stereo today, hoping the bad ground was there, but alas.

Alex13mod:
Terminals are perfect condition, will check the ground to the fender here in a bit.


Perfectionist:
Yes, the alt does get feedback at higher rpms when the battery is fully charged, it routes the power back to the alternator.

I'm having the devil's own time with figuring out which fuse is the alt fuse, but every single one I've pulled looks perfect to me. I don't know if the feedback is routed through this fuse either..

Ill check the wiring harness while I'm checking the ground, and check the plug, but beings that this is the 3rd alt, I'm going to guess that its something to do with the wiring harness or the ground, but its definetly not the ground to my stereo..

Is there any sort of damage I should look for on that wiring harness, in particular, or am I looking for the easy to spot kind of damage?

Will update in a few moments, as I'm at home and frustrated with this thing.

Thanks for the help so far!

Edit: If the alt now is going bad after 2 days, would it still do the same things caused by the bad ground, if in fact I got rid of it by unplugging my stereo?


Modified by E-Tang at 4:04 PM 4/1/2008

 

Your stereo is a load and should have no effect on the overcharging issue if everything else was working as it should. I don't see any way it could cause a ground issue.

By damage to the harness, I'm refering to any mechanical damage like chafing or broken wires, maybe even burnt and crusty. In short, anything that doesn't look normal.

The feedback circuit is used to excite the alternator's windings. The less voltage coming in, the more the alternator puts out. That's why I suggested the possibility of the fused circuit, wire harness, or connector problems.

 

When I was unplugging the stereo, I was thinking about a faulty ground connection b/c when this stereo was put in, we spliced into the old stock ground.

And since I just got done going over everything, I can't see anything that looks chafed or broken, much less broken, so I took the girlfriend to the post office, and had the dash lighting up at lower rpms than ever before... blah.

Plug looks good, no bent or missing pins, but I do really feel like an idiot on this one:
Where the @%@#$@ is my alternator fuse?

My presupposition on which one it was turned out to be wrong, and my Haynes and Chiltons don't identify it... Not in the left or right fuse panels, and its not in the big one under the hood, but perhaps the little one thats approx. 1.5x2" to the left of the fuse box?

Also, the ground to my wheel well looks ok, except that the last 3-4 inches of insulator are stripped off, is that normal?

I'm completely stumped. I'm the 2nd owner and the car has 57,xxx miles on it, wouldn't think that it'd have this kind of issue, and there are no TSBs associated with the VIN, according to the stealership..

I'm running out of ideas, and if I can't fix it and get to and from work, I'll lose my job

This sucks horribly, but I'm sure with the help of the members of H-T, I'll figure it out... Thanks again to all who've been helping to this point and to anyone with more information for me!

 

change your battery out with another one and see if that solves the problem, if it does, preplace battery.

 

How powerful is system?

The Accords come with crappy Delphi alternators that go on EVERY Accord. Switch it up to a Denso unit from the Odyssey or TL.

I know that might not be the problem since you are going through alternators but its something to keep in mind when you get a new alternator.

 

if you use the oddessy alt you will have to make the wires 4" longer, not sure about the TL/CL alt but I am sure you will need the braket for those as well

 

Still having issues, no resolution in sight, but my research on av6 shows that the bracket for the odessy alt fits directly no bracket needed, and the first thing that was done was trying a different battery.... Still looking for some answers, best auto electrical shop around here is still clueless too.