Hi,
Purchased a 1998 Accord for my son drove it home no issues. Well now it cranks with a boost but as soon as I take the cables off it sputters out and dies. I've purchased a new battery, taken the alternator off and had it tested( tested good), replaced the positive battery post. I did see a post where a Acura guy had a bad harmonic balancer that spun freely, do the accords have issues with the harmonic balancers?

 

I haven't heard of a freely spinning balancer and rather doubt that's your issue. As for Acuras and Hondas, pretty much the same engine, as your car. When you start the engine with a boost, does the serpentine belt turn the alternator?

 

The belt is turning the alternator,. I left thw cables on a little longer and it ran fine. Took them off and it dies and doesnt have enuff juice to restart on its own battery

 

With the jumper cables off and the engine not running, do any of the electricals or lights work? If not then the battery is probably unable to generate enough of a field to start the alternator.

That said, the aforementioned field should have been generated from the jumper cables and should have allowed the engine to keep running once they were disconnected. I'm thinking the alternator is not working (yes, I know you said you had it tested, but I'm not buying they told you the truth).

 

Lights work but are dim, after it sits for a day its completely dead. I'll make a run to the salvage yard tomorrow

 

Yeah, alternator is hosed. I suppose a used one will be good enough, but remaunfactured units aren't terribly expensive; that's the route I went when the alternator in my Accord went Tango Uniform.

Edit; RockAuto shows "new" alternators from a variety of manufacturers ranging from $81 to $116, and "remanufactured" alternators ranging from $118 to $139. Personally I'd opt for the remanufactured Denso unit for $133 as Denso is the OEM maker of the alternator which came in your car when it was new.

 

Ok. Thanks for the help.

 

Gm. Today i changed the alternator, load thingy in the fuse box and both the 50A and 100A link. Still doing the same thing.

 

Also noticed it runs a while after the cables are removed with no accessories on, but dies immediately if I have the A/c on. So something is keeping the alternator from charging

 

Double check ALL ground connections under the hood.