"Michael Pardee" <michaeltnull@cybertrails.com> wrote in message
news:maudnQN17Pc0YvrbnZ2dnUVZ_tGvnZ2d@sedona.net.. .
> "Jamey Shuemaker" <cantankeris@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:1179021666.464013.15970@e51g2000hsg.googlegro ups.com...
>> Hi,
>>
>> I have a 95 Honda Accord that started acting up a couple days ago.
>>
>> It started with the car sputtering like it had missed or something.
>> The check engine light came on and stayed on for a while. I decided to
>> take it to a mechanic. When I started it back up, the check engine
>> light was out, and it did fine for about 3 miles or so. It sputtered
>> again, the check engine light came back on, and as I was pulling into
>> the parking lot the engine died.
>>
>> The mechanic didn't get any faults out of the computer. I think that
>> was because by the time he got to it and cranked it back up the fault
>> had been reset.
>>
>> They told me I needed a new battery and new battery cables because the
>> battery was sending erroneous signals to the computer, "garbage in,
>> garbage out" was the quote. The valve cover was leaking oil, so they
>> replaced the valve cover, plugs, distributor cap and rotor, and the
>> ignition cables.
>>
>> After I left it was still doing the same thing. I've since replaced
>> the battery, cleaned the brackets with baking soda, and removed as
>> much corrosion as possible from the cables.
>>
>> The voltages look good at the terminals and across the wires at the
>> bracket base. Further driving tests revealed that once whatever fault
>> occurs and brings the check engine light on, the RPM drops below
>> normal. With the AC running the load is too much and the car dies.
>> With the AC off it'll keep running, but idle RPM drops off to about
>> 200. Accelerations with the check engine light on causes the car to
>> sputter and lurch.
>>
>> Short of changing out all the batter cables altogether, I don't know
>> what to do next. It seems like the cables are sufficient, but I don't
>> know if there's some kind of a fault in a ground cable, etc. The fault
>> seems electrical since the engine runs fine, but idles low after the
>> fault occurs.
>>
>> Anybody have any experience with this kind of thing?
>>
>>
>
> It could be the battery - I had that happen in a Nissan once - but I'd
> think you'd have at least occasional trouble cranking the engine. If the
> battery isn't so new as to be valuable replacement sounds like a good
> place to start. Alternatively, if the battery isn't near replacement time
> now maybe you have another car you can swap batteries with. Finally, a
> digital voltmeter to measure AC across the battery terminals when it is
> misbehaving will tell the story. Caveat: a bad alternator gives the same
> indications, and an oscilloscope is the only certain way to sort that out.
> Normally bad alternators produce fairly steady AC voltage while bad
> batteries may (but not always) jump around.
>
> The failure as I had it was an intermittent internal connection in the
> battery. The car started okay most of the time but ran very rich, idled
> very low and had all sorts of other problems. There was never any code
> stored because the ripple from the alternator continuously reset the
> computer. The new battery fixed it right away.
>
> Mike

Oops - missed the part where you replaced the battery already.