So pretty much all my issues since I purchased my Accord last year have been electrically related (besides power steering leak)

1. Ps pump leaked onto orig. alt
2. Alt from ebay put in but jacknut broke tension bolt so when the alternator failed from ps pump leak it was like impossible to remove since it was jammed in there. He left like 8 tools under the hood of my car in various places. I was going to do it, originally, and it would have probably turned out fine but ps pump would have taken it anyway.
3. Taken to mechanic, they fixed ps pump o-ring, replaced alternator, and fixed the place where the bolt was broken off.
   
   Only catch: the belt had to be tightened a lot so now it would squeak until warm. apparently some pulley damage, I can't remember which one.
   I discovered: at higher than idle rpms the lights would fade in and out at a uniform rate, probably due to slippage.
4. Starts acting up again and turns out it had a few causes. Fuel pump replaced from one in the junk heaven, works for a while but dies
5. Alternator dead rip. Thanks good mechanics for replacing bad alternator. alternator should be good (current alt)
6. Ignition switch keeps stealing my key sometimes, I have to fight with it to get it out, eventually after twisting it back and forth and it making a clicky sound it'll come out. It'll be in 1 and if you push it in slightly it'll click. Sounds electrical contact related or something, like the fuel pump relay.

So my thoughts after all that info is:

That the belt is slipping too much now since it's getting cold out and it's not charging alt as much to where it will almost die out. I was slowing down at a red light and it was cutting out. After I relinquished my key from the car, I put it back in and started it and put it into gear. Dead. Started again, ran fine on idle and then when I put in gear it started dying until I gave it some juicy.

OR the ignition switch is messing up and losing contact to where the engine won't get power anymore (I doubt since no electronics lose power).


I ran the engine and I really can not tell if it's out of alignment so I can't figure out which pulley is messed up. If it's the A/C compressor, I can just find a shorter belt and skip it and deal with it next spring. It kind of wobbles on idle but... it's like nothing at all. Compared to the power steering belt it looks major, because there is no horizontal movement on the ps belt and like less than a centimeter on the other belt.

I'm just looking for some opinions and ideas. I'll do the work myself since I have no money at all. What tests do I need to run to determine the problem if it's really hard to replicate the issue in a controlled environment? How do I make it easier? I tried searching but I can't find any info.

 

If the key is hard to remove and your car is an automatic, the gear selector cable may be out of adjustment and not allowing the gear select switch to properly engage PARK. Try Pullling the shifter down to D1 and then crashing the shifter all the way up to PARK. Also make sure your steering wheel is not locking before removing the key. If it does you will have to pull on the steering wheel to remove tension from the column locking pin to allow key removal.

If the belt is slipping and not allowing the alternator to charge the battery properly then the lights will dim and the engine may die.

Hard to say what may be wrong, if the adjuster is simply bust then replace the adjuster to properly tension the belt, but if pulleys are wobbling then you will need to determine why they are. Bad bearing or loose bracketry.