Automotive Forums

Hello,
I bought this car about 2 months ago. When I bought it the SRS indicator light was on and still is. Also about a month ago the brake indicator came on and all of the door indicators and trunk and brake lamp indicators came on and they stay on the entire time the car is running.

Then on this past Thursday my battery indicator came on and on Saturday I had just made it home then the car died on me. I tried jumping the car but it still wouldn't start. There was corrision around the battery, so I had it tested and was told the battery was dead. I have now put in a new battery and the car seems to be running fine. But the battery, door, trunk, brake, and brake light indicators are all still on. Does anyone know what may be causing this?

Thanks for your help,
Kel  

Kel,

I wish I knew what the answer was!  I have a 1999 Accord and it's doing the same thing.  What started it was me leaving the car in the position II start position.  I wanted to let my cell phone charge while I was visiting a friend, so I lef the ignition turned on without the engine running.  The air/vent and radio were turned off, but the cigarette lighter was giving my cell phone juice to charge.  

Now, my battery, brake, trunk and door dummy lights/indicators won't turn off!  I'm going to try disconnecting the battery to see if that helps.

If you have an answer, please post it on this site!

Thanks,

Dave
 

Have the ignition switch looked at.  

It was the alternator, and I learned the hard way!  Driving home from my in-laws, my wife and I were about 40 minutes into a 2 hour drive and found ourselves sitting on the side of the interstate in rural Illinois.

Believe it or not, an Illinois State Trooper pulled over and helped me replace the alternator -- he took me to the auto parts store 20 minutes away, let me use his tools and stood by my side all the way through the repair.  I think he did more work on it than I did.

Three hours later, we finally had it installed.  We had to remove the radiator . . .

Btw, an employee at an auto parts store in my in-laws home town also missed the problem -- he read codes out of my computer with no luck.  I thought it might have been an alternator problem, but the car drove fine for a day after the problem started.  

Anyhow, Kel, have your alternator checked!  

I too have an '00 Honda Accord (EX V6) and today experienced the same symptoms (indicator lights on for charging system, brake, brake light, all doors, and trunk).  I contacted the service manager at my local Honda dealer and was told that I needed a new alternator and that alternators in this vehicle have typical lifespans of about 80k miles.  



I replaced the alternator (myself) and the car and indicator lights have returned to their normal condition.  One note - it is only necessary to remove the right fan assembly to create enough space to remove the alternator.  It is not necessary to remove the radiator as indicated in a previous post.  This work took about 60 minutes to complete.  FYI, in case anyone else experiences the same.



 

Same thing happened today to my car (Honda Accord 98 V6) around 6:30PM in my local commune back home, everything seems fine to my driving. All of a sudden, I noticed my battery light, break light, all doors light and break lamp light are on. I also hear a whine from under hood. idle speed seems a little bit low. Car still run normally after I speed it up to 40 - 50 miles. I get scared and pulled over to a parking lot. Checking my car user manual, no clue what was wrong with my car (91K). Over the last two weeks,  I had replace one break lamp (break lamp on) and also have my car smoke checked (passed) I suspect either battery is bad, or timing belt is break, or alternator has someting wrong. I did have an experience with broken timing belt in my old car (120k without changing it). I recall car cannot be started if timing belt is broken. For this car, I still managed to drive it back home without using head light, radio etc. From the previous post, I suspect most likely it is alternator problem. I changed a new battery two years ago.

How much to replace the alternator if I delivered to the repaire shop? can i do it myself just buy a radiator?
Thanks  

If your timing belt is broke, no your car will not start....

alternators are not hard to change but they are not the easiest car repair either.  If you do not have much mechanical ability I would take it to a shop.  An altenator runs around 100-150 dollars.  I dont know how much time they will need to replace it but I cant imagine it being more than 2 hours.  So you are looking around $280-$330 dollars  

Thanks alot for the reply.
I drove my car to the shop the next day. when I started my car, charging light, break, doors etc were still on. after a mile, they went off, everthing seemed to be normal. I still suspect something was wrong with my car, the machanics checked fuses and measured the battery when car was running idle, voltage is 12.25vol. he said it should be 14v, and the alternator did not work. so the part price is 195$ plus 90$ (2 hrs) service, I paid 305$ in total.  

my labor estimate was almost spot on.. Thats good to know.  Is everything o.k now?