A few days ago upon returning to work from lunch I turned the A/C on for a few minutes (weather's been nice, haven't needed it). I noticed during my ascent into the parking garage that the ABS light was coming on periodically when I applied the brakes, but I realized it had not up until that point when I had the A/C on. The past couple of days since then I had not run the A/C either, and same story... no ABS light. So, today, on the way back to work from lunch, I got on the highway and decided to cut the A/C on and see if the problem returned. Well, the problem returned allright... in fact, the tach and speedo both went nuts... jumping up and down, the ABS light came on, the windows wouldn't roll up... etc. When I applied the brake the ABS light dimmed, so it leads me to believe there's something awry in the charging system. I'm hoping you guys will tell me that you think it's probably just a bad battery, but my worst fear is that it's actually the alternator. I went by Auto Zone when it started acting up before heading to the house to get my truck, and the battery was only showing 3 volts on their tester... but it was pretty run down by then too. The thing that really gets me, though, is that I drove 18 miles home and the car ran perfectly, except for the fact that the gauges weren't working... any ideas?

Thanks!

 

Well, I went ahead and replaced the battery this afternoon after I got home. Everything works normally sitting in the driveway, but I haven't taken it out for a drive yet. I did notice when changing the battery that the replacement battery (as matched up via computer) has A LOT more cranking amps (and cold CA) than the battery that was in it. I don't know if that matters much, but for now it's running... if the new one runs down w/in the next few days I'll replace the alternator. Given that I really have no idea about the history of this car I kinda figured that would be a "safe" approach, although possibly more expensive. I had an '87 Camry that did the exact same thing (except for the ABS) when the battery went out... so hopefully this is it. One question though, if I have a lot of stuff running, and it's idling low because of the drain... when I step on the throttle and see the headlights brighten... isn't that indicative of an alternator that is working?

Thanks...

 

that would make sense, with the lights brightening as you apply the gas, wouldn't hurt to check it just case though (if you do have to buy one, go ahead and get the lifetime warranty one)

 

Well... the saga continues. My wife and I had our daughter 7 weeks early... I drove the car home one night early last week to get a few things together to take back up to the hospital and when I got back in the car and began driving off I noticed the battery light came on during acceleration. Under light acceleration it would be dim... but under a heavy foot it was bright. I figured the new battery I had put in had reached the limit of what it could take. Yesterday, on the way home I stopped by Auto Zone and picked up a Duralast reman with the lifetime warranty. I know some of you don't like Auto Zone stuff, but I just couldn't fork out the $339 the Honda dealership wanted for theirs. I installed it last night and everything is working great now... I guess we'll see how long it lasts.

 

Okay guys... it turned out the new alternator fixed the problem. I bought a Duralast 90 amp reman alternator at Auto Zone and it has a lifetime warranty. I installed it one night about a week and a half ago and the car has been running great ever since. In case some of you want to replace yours yourself here's a summary of what I did. It took me about 3.5 hours to do it (never changed one before), but it wouldn't take me near as long now if I did it again. I also started at 10:30 at night after working all day so I'm a little hazy on the bolt sizes.
[ol][*] Disconnect negative battery cable, then make a mental note on the proper routing of the PS and alternator belts.[*] Loosen the 2 mounting bolts holding power steering pump to its mounting bracket (I think they're 12 or 13mm).[*] Remove power steering pump adjustment bolt (10mm) and then finish removing the mounting bolts. Once the PS pump is loose you can pull off the belt and push it aside.[*] Lift the power steering pump up and move it to the left of the alternator as best as you can. The reservoir is in a track and will lift up and move with the pump. [*] Unplug the alternator cable from the side of the alternator. Be careful not to break off the plastic snap on the plug. It had already been broken off of mine by the previous owner (or whoever worked on it for him at some point). Then disconnect the ground cable from the alternator.[*] Loosen the two alternator mounting bolts (I think they're 13mm as the ones above) and then remove the adjustment bolt (11 or 12mm?). Finish removing the mounting bolts. The best place to access the bottom bolt is actually by reaching down in front of the radiator with a closed-end wrench (if you do all work from the top as I did). [*] Lift old alternator out / drop new alternator in.[*] Reverse the process to complete.
[/ol]

I'm sure I left something out along the way... feel free to add in anything if I did...

Nixer