On my 97 accord lx, four door, four cylinder the battery has been dead since I have put the car up for my 15 year old son. When I put an external charger on the battery the parking lights and dash lights come on. There is also a humming coming from underneath the dash (possibly the fuse box area). When I tried the light switch from off, to parking lights, to headlights on the humming becomes increasing louder. After starting the car the lights stay on till the battery dies again. Also, when I had it insured and was driving it weird things would happen, like the #1 fuse under the dash would blow not allowing my windows or gauges to work, once when driving, the car acted like it was in neutral any gear I put it in (automatic trans) until I shut it off and restarted it drove fine, but the light that shows what gear you are in was flashing from drive to reverse to park. Am new to older model cars but have done some reading and wonder if it might be the ECU, but they are expensive and don't want to go randomly changing things. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Ed.

 

I wouldn't randomly change the ECU unless you have a spare one for free laying around somewhere. The ECU has some minor control over charging, but it's not the first thing coming to mind. You should check (& rule out) all the normal charging-system stuff like loose corroded battery cables (both ends) and even a bad battery that won't hold a charge.

If your alternator isn't charging, and the battery voltage drops, that can cause all kinds of strange things.