i have a 1994 honda accord. my autozone alternator failed about a month ago, bearing went out. So i replaced it with another alternator. I didnt have any problems for a couple weeks and then suddenly one morning my lights kinda dimmed, tach and mph gauge dipped up and down and went flat, radio died, heater blower died, i managed to barely get home. So i automatically assume junk alternator, well with the lifetime warranty i take it back, they test it, its good, well i get another one. install the new alternator. problem solved right? no, same problem. We checked the voltage on the battery with a multi meter and its at 13, as i turn every accessory possible on the voltage will go down to about 11 on the multimeter. after i shut all off it will charge back to 13 volts. i changed the battery out to my jeeps optima yellow top which i know is good and the same problem happened, i also swapped out the ground cable and cleaned up all the posts and mounting spots for battery and grounds. im kinda running out of ideas. should i get another alternator? any checks i should make? i know this has happended to other people on this forum but no one ever says what they did to fix it. if anyone could help me i would be greatly appreciated!!!!!

 

autozone alternator are known to be bad out of the box. Have em replace it again. Just go to a different autozone.

 

Well I don't think it's the battery, I've had two different batteries in it, a napa and an optima yellow top and it does the same thing with two totally different batteries, I've tried two different alternators from autozone and still the same problem. I also got rid of all the original grounds and put brand new grounding on it.

 

lol sorry dude I meant alternator..I'm not sure why I typed battery.

 

I went and started the car with all the accessories on, checked the voltage coming out of the alternator. Said 11 volts. Even revved it up. Whenever I turn on the accessories it only puts out around 11 volts. Later I checked the voltage and it said 13 coming off the alternator w/ all accessories on. With everything off the alternator can get all the way up to 14 volts. Should the alternator be putting out 14 volts even at idle. I'm just trying to get an understanding of what's going on.

 

If your car is an automatic I believe at idle it will idle at low output mode unless you put a load on it, then it goes to full output mode.

I don't understand what "later" refers to. Like I said, autozone alternators are known to be bad out of the box for Hondas because they run in two modes and I don't think they realize that. Furthermore, their testers can't test both modes. If you can get them to refund your money I would do that and buy a Denso reman...best price is rockauto. You can never go wrong with a Denso reman as they are the OEM makers of Honda alternators. If you can't get them to after bitching and complaining atleast get another.

 

Just wanted to update this. I bought a denso alternator At Carquest and swapped out the autozone alternator. She's putting out a constant 14 volts now. I took the autozone alt back and explained the problem, told them I wanted a refund which they obliged $220 bucks. What surprised me is they said they gave me the wrong alternator. Said I had a 90 volt alt and they should have gave me a bigger one. I don't know if they were full of **** nor do I care now because my car is back up and running! Thanks

 

hahaha nice man, i recently came up on a new reman denso at the junkyard one day. my originals bearing was making noise, i had thought i had rod rock hahaha, my denso 14volts idle 13.8 with everything on.