My neice just bought 92 accord 132000 miles lots of maint records My brother washed engine compartment sunday I get call tonight battery light is on car quit. Put battery in to get it home
the belt is tight, not charging. Do these cars have seperate voltage regulators? where is it?
It looks like power steering pump must come off to remove alt, Is this the case? Any help is greatly appreciated Steve

 

Hey Steve Your car Does Not have a seperate voltage regulator. You do Not have to remove power steering pump but it is a bitch to get alt out. Just be patient and dont force it and remember when you start the car it may not start charging right away the ECU will pause it so a spike does not occur Have fun

 

On my'98the PS pump was EASY to remove. Just 2 bolts & swing it out of the way (don't remove the hoses). That makes it easier to get the alternator.

You could check the voltages under load. (Turn on all the lights & fans that you can.) Also check for loose/dirty/corroded connections at BOTH ends of both battery cables. And check for a good connection at the large wire on the alternator.

The voltage regulator is#25, built into the alternator, but it's replaceable if you feel like taking the alternator apart. Its not real cheap, so I'd do some testing before you just buy a new one.

 

I watched an alternator go up in smoke after an engine wash with GUNK degreaser, I am sure that just water shorted out the alternator, it did not blow any fuses. After the wash, the owner turned on the key and smoke came out of the alternator and a no charge condition existed once the car started with no starting problems.

I have seen it happen a few times. Around here it is quite popular to degrease the engine for the two year Japanese safety inspection, if there are no oil leaks then they tend to go easy on the rest of the car, no leaks of any kind are allowed, tranny, PS, brake sys, coolant and engine oil are all looked at.