[Joshatdot]

I have a 91 Accord LX, 4 Door, 5 Speed. The alternator went out as I was driving on the freeway. I didn't know it at the time, but the engine started to misfire and jerky for a few seconds (about 5~10 sec). It was early in the morning and raining, so I had the wipers on delay & all lights on.

A few minutes later I noticed the wipers were jerky/skippy, and I turned off the main lights & left the running lights on, and the wipers were fine (I didn't think that the alt was out at this time).

I got home, and took a shower and went to my car to goto work. *click* *click* *click*...dead battery. After work, I went to NAPA to test the alt, and it was not charging (volt meter was reading 9.1 volts!). It soon died while I was at NAPA.

I got a new alt there, re-manufactured OEM 80amp, got the batt quick charged to 12v to start it and get me home. My dad got me a Black & Decker Smart 2-4-6amp battery charger from ACE Hardware, and charged my battery.

I drove to my friend house to work on my car, during the day so very limited battery drain. So we got down & dirty yo change my Alt. It wasn't as EZ as it was on my dads old Ford F250. We had to remove the PS pump to get to the Alt, finagle with odd angles with the ratchet to get to some bolts. Anywho, we got'er done, and it WAS charging at 14.3 volts at idle, nothing on.

As I was driving home, I had to speed up to pass a car on a two lane country road. I down shifted from 4th to 3rd, and speed the engine to about 5000 RPM. I noticed that the lights went slightly dim, and when I was slowing down and the engine went below 1500 RPM the BATT light went on. The BATT light did go off when above 1500 RPM.

When I got home, I checked the batt's voltage with nothing on, it was 12.7 volts. When I started the car, it was the same voltage & stayed the same even if I revved the RPMs above 1500. I let the engine run at idle till it was warmed up, checking various wires & stuff, voltages, etc.

I turned off the car, did some Google searching for a while. I went to start the car to goto NAPA to test the Alt & batt.

...the engine was just turning over & over & over. This happened afew times before. I would usually leave the key ON for a while and try to start the car.

This would usually work, at first it would sputter and stop. Try to start again, it would sputter abit more and stop. 3rd time it would start like normal.

But this time, it would not sputter/run enuff to keep it running, and eventually I ran the battery down.

SOOOOO...

1. I need to check the Alt & batt to see if they are ok?
2. Is the 1500 RPM a bad battery or bad Alt?
3. Is there a Alt fuse? I did not see one in the Main box or under the Dash box.
4. Should I replace my Fuel filter?
5. or is it the Main Relay thats bad?
6. Maybe failing Fuel pump?

 

[TheVinylRipper]

NAPA usually sells decent stuff but it sounds like the alternator is bad. Remanufactured alternators and starters are notoriously unreliable.

That you had a bad alternator before and replaced it and the new one started working shows that it is probably not something else in the electric.

It used to be that a bad battery was fairly easy to diagnose but today cars start so easily that you don't know the battery is going bad until it dies completely and very quickly. Have the battery checked.

As for the fuel filter, what usually happens when they plug up is that the car starts and runs fine at idle and very low throttle settings and then bogs badly when you try to accelerate.

Are you getting a check engine light?

How about the alternator light?

An engine needs three thing to run, air, fuel and ignition (as long as the compression is good and the engine is mechanically OK). Air usually isn't a problem, ignition and fuel are.

See if you can find someone with a code reader who can scan your computer for error codes. Even a car as old as your's probably is computer controlled.

I have an '87 BMW 325 es and it has computer fuel injection.

 

[AuroraProject]

Sounds like you got a bum alternator, it happens from time to time. The batteries only purpose in life is to start the engine, and provide power for engine off activities (radio on). A bad battery wont change the way the car runs, once the engine is started the alternator takes over, powering all the cars systems and replenishing the batteries charge. There is a fuse or fusible link for the alternator, location and type vary. The battery light is a sign of a bad alternator, I couldn't tell you why they chose to make it look like a battery.

I have seen a lot of older Hondas take several tries to start, my brother had this same problem with his Saturn. On the Saturn the problem lies with a faulty valve in the fuel pump. Once the fuel system is pressurized it is supposed to stay that way, but on the Saturn when the car was turned off the fuel would flow back into the tank, so when he went to start it the fuel pump had to fill all of the lines and pressurize the system, requiring a few tries to get it going. Try turning the ignition on and let the fuel pump run for 5-10 seconds before turning the key to the start position, sometimes that helps. The Honda may or may not share the same type of problem with the Saturn.

 

[TheVinylRipper]

You mentioned rain.

It could easily be water in the distributor cap, take the cap off and blow dry it and the top of the distributor out thoroughly and see if that helps. The computer wouldn't read that as a fault so the check engine light wouldn't come on.

 

[Joshatdot]

I got the alt checked at NAPA, and it was not charging. They ordered me a replacement, and it will arrive tomorrow. Once I get the ALT & BAT working fine, I'll troubleshoot the starting problem. I am thinking failing pump, as it does not "starve" for fuel when accelerating.