I have a 1992 Honda Accord EX with around 235xxx miles on it. The other day while driving to work (at night) I noticed the headlights getting dim and all the interior lights getting dim as well, but I made it to work. On the way home, it was still doing it and whenever I would hit the brakes to slow down the RPM gauge, speedometer and radio would all shut off until I let off the brakes. I thought it was the alternator or battery, so I got it tested at Advance Auto and they said the alternator was fine, but the battery was bad. I replaced the battery at it worked for about 2 days and it started again, worse this time. It drains my car to the point where it will made a fast clicking noise when it's almost all the way dead, all electronics won't work, and if I use the brakes, the car will die and i have to pull over. Any ideas on what it could be? The battery is brand new, the distrubutor is 1 year old, alternator I have never replaced since I've had the car (5 years now). Any help is good.

 

Sounds like a bad alternator. You can test it if you want using a multimeter. Just test for volts on a cold startup when the idle is 1500rpms which is when the alternator is making peak power. You should see around 14.60 volts. Then put the headlights on. It should stay around 14.00 volts. Put the rear defogger on. It should atleast be 13.00 volts at the least. If not, the alternator is bad.

This could also be caused by bad grounds or bad battery connections.

If you need to swap out the alternator stick to Denso remans. They make the alternators for our car and pretty much would be the only one I would trust to be guaranteed to be good out of the box. Parts store alternators are always a crap shoot but they do have lifetime warranties.

 

Just to let you know you're not alone on electrical issues.
But, your symptoms and driveabilty issues are far worse than my experience.

'92 Accord with 227,000 here currently, rarely I see the headlights dim as driving at night. No other symptoms.
Car's first 200,000 miles were in wet climate of Seattle, last 27,000 in dry environment.

before that had a '93 with 230,000. rarely, the headlights would go out, only to come back on after 5 or 10 seconds.
disconcerting at night. full vehicle life was in a dry environment.
Didn't solve either one, it was so rare.

 

Does sound like a bad alternator. When the lights dim you can try putting the car in a lower gear, thus increasing the RPMs and see if the lights work fine at the higher RPMs. This is I usually a sign of a failing alternator. As noted above you can always use a multimeter to test as we'll.

 

I realize this thread is very old, however i have a 2007 accord and as unique and unexplainable as your issues are i am having almost exactly the same ones. previous owner had an elaborate aftermarket security alarm installed giving my old 07 keyless start. i’ve blamed all the electrical issues on that as there has been no other explanation. wondering if anyone over the years has an answers for this

 

This thread is ane example where someone didn't post the outcome. Since your 07 accord is much different than the 92 originally posted, I'd start a new thread and let us know the issues that your car is having. Also let us know any items you replaced to resolve the issue.