So after driving home from work today my usual 46 mile route, I stop at a gas station 5 minutes from my house to fill up. Turn car off, fill up the tank, get in car, key in the ignition....nothing.... i double take like maybe i missed the keyhole and was turning air or something - try again - nothing.

I can't believe that after my regular drive home - it dies when i stop for gas (lucky i guess), but the car has def felt a little underpowered since I got my oil changed this past weekend. No battery light, no grinding noises or buzzing...no warning at all...

So after playing around to make sure it wasn't a problem with my key, I tried jumping it 3x - each time it would die in less than 5 minutes and to the tow truck it went (3 hours later).

It's a 05 accord lx and I just crossed 70k. I am shocked to think that my alternator is dead already. With no warranty and no other thoughts on what the problem could be, I guess I'm going to Honda tomorrow morning.

Sorry for the rant, this being my 4th Honda, I still can;t believe I have a problem like this. Hell, my 91 civic ran to 210,000 before needing a new alternator. sigh.

I read that my batter has a 36 month unlimited mileage warranty - but not thinking that's going to help me with this...

Any thoughts/known problems/etc?

Thanks.

 

I would have to agree that the alt is dead. the car had been running on the battery. the alt is a simple test, take it to have it tested.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by rio9999 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> I tried jumping it 3x - each time it would die in less than 5 minutes and to the tow truck it went (3 hours later).

</TD></TR></TABLE>

Did it died in about 5 sec or close to 5 mins?

If the car dies after you jump it, then I would say it's the alt. Experienced that before.

If the car starts after a jump. And stayed running and dies 5 mins later, then I would think it's not the alt. (never experienced that).

A bad alt will kill your battery, so plan a budget for that too. BTW, your car is 70K miles. That does not mean anything. Meaning it's not a "new" car so anything can happen.

 

The car would jump, and run for a few minutes then completely die...although 70k is not 'new' - its only 70k on a Honda. Now having owned 4 Honda's, I've never had anything this 'major' in under 150k.

Regardless, It was the battery - fried. Didn;t hvae the opportunity to get my multimeter and really play because I wasn;t able to get my car home before towing to Honda. Honda called first thing this morning and told me that the battery was so shot, they had to replcae it before even being able to check the system.

It was good that I knew (read on here somewhere) about the battery warranty for 36 months, unlimited mileage because the advisor didn't/'forgot.' but, the car is running perfectly now and has some power back.

Still confused why a battery would fry in 35 months and 70,000 - but who ever knows with batteries.

Thanks again.

 

Batteries can go even sooner then that. Wasn't a big problem, just a simple dead battery.