2006 Accord electrical problem

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greenjp

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Wanted to see if you guys had any thoughts on a problem my 2006 Accord is having.

Occassionally (like a time or two a month) over the past several months, the car will momentarily lose electrical power if it's idling and the AC compressor kicks on. It doesn't happen all the time and I don't think it's happened when moving. The engine doesn't stop.

On Wednesday this week I left a light on and drained the battery, got a jump and it started right up and drove fine.

On Friday after I got home from work, went to switch cars with the wife and it was totally dead - 10 minutes after I had just driven it for 25 minutes. No lights or anything when turning the key. Jumped it and it started fine, then while sitting for a few minutes it shut down and again appeared totally dead.

I checked the battery with a multimeter and got 12.6v resting (I realize this doesn't necessarily indicate it's OK). A little while later I got in the car and the lights were back and it started up OK. 14v on the battery with the engine running. That was Friday afternoon and I haven't had to drive it since.

The car has 175k miles, the battery is a Bosch AGM that went in November '16 at 120k. The terminals and clean and the connections are tight.

The semi random totally dead behavior perhaps suggests there's some sort of intermittent connection problem? I imagine that would be hard to isolate. I thought about getting one of those $20 Harbor Freight analog battery testers.

Any ideas? Thanks,

jeff
 
12.6 resting is low for an AGM. Have the battery tested, and check your body grounds. There should be one down under the battery that (if memory serves) continues on to the engine block.
 
If you jumped it and drove it, it still may need to be charged. I'm not convinced the stock charging system can fully charge a battery. I am not knowledgeable about AGM batteries, but i wonder if the 12.6 measurement was a surface charge. I would charge it with a separate charger.

Check the other ends of the battery cable, the one to ground and the one to the starter.
 
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These cars have known charging issues stemming from the ELD. A faulty ELD will tell the ecu to turn off the alternator. Fixes are replacing the fuse box which houses the ELD,. Disassemble the fuse box and replace the sensor itself, bypass the ELD with a resistor to trick the ecu or depinning the white/green wire from the alternator plug to disable ecu control.
 
I have experienced a similar issue with my 2003 Accord. My problem was solved by replacing the alternator. Please save yourself time and frustration by using a remanufactured unit. Most rebuilt units are poor quality. If you have a local shop that specializes in remanufacturing alternators, please have them test it.
 
I agree , sounds like a loose / intermittent connection . I also agree , check the grounds , every one you can find .
 
I had a similar issue. For me it turned out to be corrosion build up in the positive cable under the wrap. Replaced the positive terminal connector and cut the cable back. I have read this is an issue with the positive cable on the Gen 7.5 Accords. Some owners just replace the positive cable with another OEM cable from the dealership.

2006 Honda Accord LX 2.4L (K24A8)
 
Thanks for the feedback everybody, looks like I have several lines of investigation ahead of me. Fortunately it's been fine since the OP 'cause I've been driving all over the place for work this week.

jeff
 
Been driving quite a bit for since the last post. I haven't had any problems, but it's failed to start for my wife twice. Once was a few days ago, she was out running errands and called to report that it was dead. I drove over to where she was, she was sitting in the driver's seat and as noted there were no lights or anything on. I had her hop out so I could get in and take a look. The moment I shut the driver's door, the lights all came back up and the car started fine. So that was weird.

Then on Thursday night, I get out of the car after a drive, hit the lock button on the key and the car does not respond. I open the door, no lights. Shut the door and hit the button again and it worked. Odd.

This morning my wife tries driving it and yet again it won't start for her. She tries the open and close the door trick and reports that the lights came on for just a moment when she shut the door but then were out and it wouldn't start. It was behaving normally and started just fine for me a couple hours later.

I suppose it's possible that something is loose that opening and closing the door has some effect on?

jeff
 
Forgot to update this. Several weeks ago (pre-virus lockdowns) I gave the battery terminals and connectors a good scrub with a wire brush, also where the negative connects to the body. I think I put some dielectric grease over them and haven't had the problem recur since. So that must have been it.

jeff
 
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