Thursday afternoon heading down to New York to visit Grandma in the hospital, I picked my daughter up from school in Boston, got on the Mass Pike, and just as I got up to speed the "Charging" (battery) light illuminated on the dash of my 2001 Accord (along with a few other lights as well). Pulled over to the side, stopped the engine, restarted it, and same result, charging light.

I shut off all electrical draw items, my daughter plotted the course to the nearest Honda dealership on her phone, and three hours, one Air Bag Recall service, a new alternator, and $708 later, we were back on the road. Ouch!

 

Sorry to hear about the Accord's issues... happy though that you and your daughter are okay

 

Sometimes when you're on the road you don't have the luxury to mail-order the parts & fix it yourself. I hate when that happens, but I bet you were able to rule out a loose or broken drive belt.

 

You just paid for somebody's vacation...

 

Yeah, checked the belt first thing (new belt last fall). Alternator was toast.

 

That and a brand new Honda Alternator on a fifteen year old car with 170,000+ miles on the clock. Given the option I would never put new OEM anything in when a suitable remanufactured unit is available. New NAPA units are half the price of the Honda unit, and remanufactured NAPA units are a third of the price. The good news, if you can call it that, is the alternator is really nice and shiny.

 

I like new and shiny