"Elle" <honda.lioness@nospam.earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:l14Hf.9145$Nv2.3984@newsread1.news.atl.earthl ink.net...
> FYI, on the battery light:
> "The battery light is misnamed: It doesn't go on when the battery is low.
> The battery light will go on only if the alternator is not charging the
> battery."
>
> More at
> http://www.ehow.com/how_7690_respond-cars-battery.html
>
To complicate things, in charging systems that were popular around the '80s
brush failure would not turn on the charging/battery light because the
current to turn the lamp on had to go through the brushes via the regulator.
My '85 Volvo and the '84 Nissan I had were like that. More modern systems
(including '91 Hondas, I'm sure) have a separate sensing circuit and don't
have that blind spot.

I concur - the alternator is very likely the problem, and the brushes (worn
or oily) are the prime suspects. I also agree that the alternator may test
okay on the bench depending on whether the intermittent is on again or off
again.

Mike