I went home on lunch, went back to my car, and the car wouldn't start. Got all dash lights etc... but when I went to start the car, nothing except for super fast clicking. If I turn my headlights on, I get clicking from the passenger side.

If i hit the brake, I lose ALL power. All lights, guages go dead with the brake being hit... soo... I can't even put it in neutral to move it out of the 2 parking spaces I was taking up... lol

Considering its clicking and I can roll up windows, turn on the stereo.. etc... it can't be the battery right?

Anyway - I'm going to pick up an alternator on the way home (in my coworkers newer vw beetle ughhh....) and attempt to put it in... Is there a good how-to on how to replace the alternator for the 02 accord v6?

 

Well, I guess I'm gonna wing it.

 

how many miles on the car? most likely your battery is dead along with your alt. Those are made by Delphi and last about 90K or so. the ALT is not easy to replace on that car.

 

Well, I wanted to get a jump from my roomate, but he didn't get home till 9pm last night.

Ideally, and logically, this would have been what to do first. However... I wanted to have a chance of getting it working last night, so I went to swap the alternator. Disconnected the battery, disconnected the connectors to the alt, loosened the bolts, took the belt off... and took the bolts off.

It was a freakin' bitch getting that thing out of there... I had to take the coolant reservoir off its bracket and rotate the alt perfectly to slide it out. (barely)

Got the new one in, but its not tightened up and I ran out of sunlight. Realized I'm sitting on the street cleaning side of the street, so I had to call the cops to try and avoid getting a ticket today...

Anyway... I'm going to go home today after work (got a ride) and finish putting the thing in... Hopefully it'll start... if it doesn't I'll get a jump, let it run for 20 min or so... shut it off and see if it'll start. If it does.... then I'll test the old alt just to make sure it's bad. If it turns out it was just the battery, I guess I'll put the old alt back in and get my money back lol. At least I learned how to replace the alternator.

Anyone see anything wrong with what I'm doing, besides the backward *** way I'm doing everything? lol

 

Also, almost 79k on the car.

 

Well, got the new one in and bolted up... annnnnd. click.

Tried to jump it with my roomate's dinky little elantra with a nearly dead battery... and click...

Tried to jump it with my friend's jetta with an aftermarket battery, and boom, it started.

SOOOOooo.... it sounds like after all of that, my battery had died. I ran the car fairly hard.. 3k+ rpm for a good 20 minutes or so, came back, let it idle for a bit, and shut it off. The car didn't even TRY to crank. So.. I think the thing is pretty far shot.

How are AAA batteries? Or should I just go pick one up from advanced auto?

 

Did you check to see if the terminals are nice a tight?? Because My car was doing the Exact same thing yesterday. I thought it was the battery was completely dead, then I thought it was the alternator, but then I found out it was just the - terminal wasn't tightened all the way.

 

Well, yeah, they're on tight now.

They were on tight when the car wouldn't start originally, though there was some corrosion on the positive end.

I cleaned if all off somewhat (just with paper towels/water).

Everything is on tight now though. I'm just gonna replace the battery. Both probably needed replacing within 10-20k anyway...