I checked the car this weekend, and found no leaks, no funny noises, correct
fluid levels, and a good belt. The problem did not reproduce over the
weekend (figures).

I took it into the dealer this morning, and they replaced the ignition
switch under warranty. Their paperwork was...um...questionable, as they
showed me coming in for the warranty work back in 2002, but never actually
showed the part being replaced. According to the service guy (I didn't talk
to the tech), they saw some "burn marks" on the old ignition. Having never
actually held an ignition switch in my hand, I'm not sure if that is
legitimate and expected for any switch with 110K miles, or if it was an
actual problem that explains my issues.

If the problem resurfaces I'll be sure and update the group, and if anyone
can tell me if "burn marks" are in-and-of-themselves bad, it would be much
appreciated.

Thanks all.

- Mike





"Mike" <hlshadow@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:46d86b01$0$16517$4c368faf@roadrunner.com...
> Good afternoon all. I did a search of the archives, and read through
> Teggers FAQ, but wasn't able to find any details for this specific issue.
> Thanks for your time.
>
> My wife has a '99 Honda Accord sedan, 4-cylinder 5 speed with 115K miles.
> About once every few months for a year or more, she has complained that it
> "loses power." This has now escalated to three times in a week, and is a
> pretty significant issue for us - if we can't figure it out we're going to
> have to sell the car for safety reasons. Unfortunately I haven't
> experienced this yet as it's not my daily driver, so some of the details
> that she offers aren't exactly complete and I recognize that.
> Nonetheless, here are the symptoms, and I'm hoping these ring a bell with
> someone.
>
> Yesterday when making a left turn into a parking lot at about 20MPH, she
> states the steering wheel "locked up" while making the turn, and she
> nearly ran into a telephone pole. Sounds to me based on her explanation
> that she lost power steering as she said it was incredibly difficult to
> turn. She said that when it happened, all the lights on the dash came on,
> but the radio was still on and the engine was still running. She
> stopped/restarted the car, problem resolved. I'm not 100% sure why the
> power steering would be affected if the engine was still running, but my
> job is in IT not fixing Hondas unfortunately. :-)
>
> When this has happened in the past it was just the dash-lights turning on
> and a loss of power briefly so this wasn't an urgent of a problem. It's
> only happened before while sitting at an intersection stopped (dash lights
> turn on/car may or may not stop running) or driving straight (loss of
> power, dash lights on), so in the past she just restarted the car and off
> she went. I didn't know about the loss of power steering until recently.
> Besides this little hiccup, the car is flawless (and paid for), so we'd
> love to resolve it if possible. If it's relevant, we live in NC and the
> weather has been VERY hot as of late, but previous problems have been
> throughout the year.
>
> I had the alternator checked this morning at an Advance Auto for grins, it
> tested out fine. Any other ideas regarding things to check/repairs/tests?
>
> Much appreciated.
>
> - Mike
>
>
>
>