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Battery light on?

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tbike06

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So I was driving back from Thanksgiving break, (~700 miles) I was sitting in traffic for a bit, and I noticed the battery light came on. I have a 91 Honda Accord, 170,000 miles. A couple minutes later it went off and stayed off for the rest of the drive. I checked the battery terminals when I got home, don't know if those being loose could have caused the light. Is my alternator going bad?
 
My guess with that kind of mileage would be yes the alternator is going bad, it likely can't put out enough power at idle and starts to use battery power for ignition and accessories, long periods at idle will drain the battery and cause the light to come on. You can get the alternator tested for free at just about any parts store, instead of making us guess and then having to figure out who makes the best guesses, why not get it tested?
 
tbike06 said:
So I was driving back from Thanksgiving break, (~700 miles) I was sitting in traffic for a bit, and I noticed the battery light came on. I have a 91 Honda Accord, 170,000 miles. A couple minutes later it went off and stayed off for the rest of the drive. I checked the battery terminals when I got home, don't know if those being loose could have caused the light. Is my alternator going bad?
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Most likely your alternator is going bad or the battery or both. Bring it into your local auto store for testing.
 
If you're cheap and you don't want to spend the money to get your car repaired, you can float charge your car battery and just leave your car as is. There are hypermilers who actually go a bit futher and completely disconnect the alternator pulley and just charge their car battery when they get home. They do this in order to remove the frictional losses the alternator would have on the engine in order to improve mileage. Since the light came on once and went off again, it sounds like it's the beginning of your car not being able to charge the battery anymore. If you do a lot of highway driving, you may be alright in terms of your battery getting charged.
 
fleabag said:
If you're cheap and you don't want to spend the money to get your car repaired, you can float charge your car battery and just leave your car as is. There are hypermilers who actually go a bit futher and completely disconnect the alternator pulley and just charge their car battery when they get home. They do this in order to remove the frictional losses the alternator would have on the engine in order to improve mileage. Since the light came on once and went off again, it sounds like it's the beginning of your car not being able to charge the battery anymore. If you do a lot of highway driving, you may be alright in terms of your battery getting charged.
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Go to an Auto Zone or Advance Auto and have them check your battery and charging system as a first step.

If you have a voltmeter/multimeter and know how to use it, you can do a lot of checking yourself.
 
fleabag said:
If you're cheap and you don't want to spend the money to get your car repaired, you can float charge your car battery and just leave your car as is. There are hypermilers who actually go a bit futher and completely disconnect the alternator pulley and just charge their car battery when they get home. They do this in order to remove the frictional losses the alternator would have on the engine in order to improve mileage. Since the light came on once and went off again, it sounds like it's the beginning of your car not being able to charge the battery anymore. If you do a lot of highway driving, you may be alright in terms of your battery getting charged.
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🙄

After the alternator starts to go it's going to continue to get worse. While it may be weeks or months you'll never really when it's going to finally die. Ignoring it is a great way to end up stranded with dead battery.

For a teenager that can just borrow one of mom and dad's car it's not a big deal when their car breaks. For those of us that need a car to get to our jobs and keep a roof over our heads its a little bit different.
 
Bignate603 said:
🙄

After the alternator starts to go it's going to continue to get worse. While it may be weeks or months you'll never really when it's going to finally die. Ignoring it is a great way to end up stranded with dead battery.

For a teenager that can just borrow one of mom and dad's car it's not a big deal when their car breaks. For those of us that need a car to get to our jobs and keep a roof over our heads its a little bit different.
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Not everybody has $$$ which is why I made the suggestion... You have no proof of my age so stop using that in your arguments against me you tard.
 
The battery light was coming on intermittently on my old Taurus recently. Turned out it wasn't the battery or the alternator. The rad fan motor was dying and seizing up intermittently. When it would lock, the load would trip the battery light. When it freed itself, the battery light would go out. The strong smell of "dying electrical motor" clued me in.

A used motor from the local junkyard was all I needed.
 
The light comes on when the charging system voltage (alternator + battery) drops below a set threshold. The simplest check is measuring, at the battery terminals, 12.6v with key off, 13v+ while idle, and still 13v+ after turning on AC to max, radio, headlights, rear defroster, all at the same time.

Classic symptom of a failing alternator is the light first flickering intermittently at high loads when you step on it, then progressively coming on more often at lower RPMs and not turning off at all.

It's another thing that can be exposed as the weather changes, as you're using the accessories more like the defroster, heat, fog lights, etc. and putting the final nail in the coffin to a borderline problem that previously wasn't apparent.
 
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fleabag said:
Not everybody has $$$ which is why I made the suggestion... You have no proof of my age so stop using that in your arguments against me you tard.
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Well, thanks for providing proof in that very sentence.

I agree with the majority, take it to get it tested. Checking if your charging system is working is a easy thing to verify so may as well leave out the guess work.
 
You ALL get one warning, stop slinging insults.
This is a CAR FORUM, not a pre-school playground.
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Gillbot
 
please, this is a car politics/what car/what repair do i buy forum. I'm pretty sure I could count the number of petrolheads in here on two hands. I'd love to be proven wrong, but until i see some real build/repair/restore threads, this isn't a car forum 😛
 
canadageek said:
please, this is a car politics/what car/what repair do i buy forum. I'm pretty sure I could count the number of petrolheads in here on two hands. I'd love to be proven wrong, but until i see some real build/repair/restore threads, this isn't a car forum 😛
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See sig, some of us are gear heads also.

This particular SECTION is our Car Forum.

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