Possible Alternator Trouble

[apawlak75]

So I just bought my car last week - 2004 Tourer 2.0 Executive - and I'm having a slight issue. The previous owner told me right before I bought it that it had died on her a few days before. She ***ured me that she went out and bought a brand new battery that day and even gave me the receipt (w/ the 36 month warranty.)

But, I've been having some issues that lead me to believe it wasn't even the battery in the first place.

1.) The car is sluggish to start (especially in the morning)
2.) If I'm running high demand accessories (ie. defrost, high bass from the sub) I'll have dimming lights and sometime the RDS cuts out for a second.
3.) I've had this happen to me one time, the engine was off and I had the stereo on high (w/ high bass) and the sub would cut out on me.
4.) Also I've noticed the tail gate motor only reliably works when the engine is running?
5.) Oh and I put my ear to the alternator while it was running and I could hear a slight buzzing or humming coming from it.

So yeah my first though is the alternator and if I had a meter I'd check it myself, but alas I do not. So I'm gonna get it checked out tomorrow... anyone else have any ideas what it could be? You know before I walk into a shop and look silly telling them I've got a bad alternator.

Cheers,

Adam

 

[Dan Robinson]

It might be a weak battery rather than the alternator.

Remember it is a "smart" alternator, so is not always charging the battery.

You also need to remember our batteries are very small in relation to the number of electrical gizmo's in the car. You will not be able to play with things for more than a few minutes without the engine running.

First thing to do is check the age of the battery and maybe replace that - far cheaper than the alternator, and far more likely to be the problem.

 

[vile]

As Dan said this could just be the battery so worth getting a health check on it 1st.
If its an Alternator problem im sure someone hear changed the bearings and it sorted it out.

 

[apawlak75]

The battery is brand new, and was fitted days before I got the car.

As far as the bearings, I just imagined they would make more noise if they were so bad that they were affecting the car so much.

 

[vile]

The battery is brand new, and was fitted days before I got the car.

As far as the bearings, I just imagined they would make more noise if they were so bad that they were affecting the car so much.

Its not uncommon for the alternator to go as a few members has had this as well.
Adam have a search in the google custom search as im sure there are some threads on this.

 

[crespo]

Check that the battery is the correct one as the accord battery is tiny and if it is wrong you will Defo have issues.