Sears has good batteries. Some say Optima is good too. I think for my accord exv6 I bought 100Amp die hard gold.

Change the battery and then see what problems still exist. You might be just at the margin voltage and exceed the margin when your RPM is higher.

In regard to diconnecting batteries. ALWAYS dissconnect the positive side.
Why?
Because the negative side connects to the chassis in many places. If you disconnect the negative side you will still have Floating Voltage with your positive being connected but you have no ground, just parasitic ground. With the ground being absent, you never know what that voltage would be.

 

It's still the alternator. They die at 80K and it's very surprising that you're still able to drive on it. The battery isn't putting out much power because it's not getting a full charge from the alt.

Firestone has no idea what they're doing.

You could go with what some random tire tech says, or what we know from years of board experience.

 

Thanks DOZ5, I guess I learned the hard way. Now I have to get my car checked because fuse number 8 keeps blowing instantly. I'll do a search on a Die Hard battery for my car.

Thanks e3Nine you know I had the feeling that the alternator is the one that was bad. But the only thing that makes me think different is that the car dies right after 2 hours. For example I had to jump the car three times yesterday. I guess if the battery was good this would not be happening so often. I drove the car for quiet awhile yesterday trying to recharge the battery.


Thanks guys for taking the time to answer my questions.

 

It's not the battery. The alternator is not fully charging the battery, therefore you're running the cell down to empty. It's dying every 2 hours because there's no spark left in it.

Do you hear any noises under the hood too?

 

I bought a new battery for my car because it was not charging anymore and anyways it was old.
I bought a Die Hard Gold.

Sears told me that my alternator was running really high, 17 volts.

This means I definitely need a new alternator right? And besides the car is having electrical problems so now my headlights are not turning on. I'm going to try to take it to a friend over the weekend and hopefully he is going to be able to fix it. Maybe a relay is bad??? Any Idea guys???

Thanks alot for all the responses...

Ralph

 

Go to autozone and ask them to use a DC volt meter (DMM-Digital Multi-meter) and measure the voltage just like I explained here:

Take a volt meter and put it on DC, when the car is running the voltage across the battery should be around 13.00-14.5V or somewhat in this range, when the engine is off, the voltage should drop to around 12-12.5V.

If it is above 14.5V, you have a problem. 17V is very high!

It has absolutly nothing to do with a relay!

Either your grounding is not good (But this would be unlikely since your voltage is high) or your alternator rectifier stage is failing and now you are getting some AC that raise your average voltage (Mean) to high. It means you need to replace your alternator.

There two and only two voltage sources in the car. 1)Battery. 2)Alternator.

When the engine is running, the baterry is charging and the alternator which is a AC generator with rectifing stage which makes it a DC generator.

When engine is off, the battery supplies all power / voltage to all the devices.

If indeed you have a 17V DC comming out of the alternator, you will start seeing systems burn out.

 

Ralph, when are you gonna tell us what kind of car? Honda's been making Accords since like 1980, & they're not all the same...

Voltage regulator is often replaceable & mounted in the alternator. 17 volts is too high, but that depends on exactly how they measured it. If it's a 2005 with a nice shiny alternator, then get a voltage regulator. If it's a 1980 & the alternator has 500,000 miles, then get an alternator.

 

Thank you very much guys for all the help!

Sorry for not posting what kind of car I have.
1998 Honda Accord 2.3 automatic EX four doors 118,400 miles.

Sears checked the alternator on the car while it was running.

17 volts is really high and I'm afraid to drive it and make this electrical problem even worst.

Checked the fuses for the left and right headlights and they are not blown.

Should I take a new alternator to my friend since he lives far and don't want to keep driving this car?

Thanks guys.

Ralph

 

Well, #19 is the voltage regulator. It looks like you might have to open the case of the alternator in order to replace the regulator. And it looks like the regulator is about 1/2 the cost of the entire alternator.

 

Rebuilding a motor is not a job for an amateur! Or if you have not done it before with success.

You better off buying a rebuilt honda one.

Making sure the shaft is perfectly align with no vibration takes a bit of practice. I am not saying you can't do it but be aware that if it is half the cost anyway, why bother.