1996 Honda Accord gauges malfunction, then stops running, with no power afterwards.
Hello everyone. I have 1996 Honda Accord LX. Last week I was driving to work and it just died on the road and stopped running. The characteristics it exhibited before doing were these symptoms. At night the battery symbol would come on very weak. I could see the head lights dim, and the engine would change noise. The day it happened, I noticed the tachometer and speedometer went haywire and immediately following that, the car sputtered and stopped running. I tried restarting it and I had absolutely no power. I couldn't even roll the windows up. The next day I charged the battery to full capacity. It started right up the next day with no problems. I drove it for about 20 minutes and it exhibited the same characteristics and died on the road again. I have checked the alternator and battery and they are both good. However, the battery is at 11.6 volts fully charged. I also checked the main relay and ECU. Neither of the mother boards have any sauder cracked or melted. This was check after the car cooled though. I also checked the fuel pump and its getting power as well. My hunch is something in the vehicle heats up and then the car shuts down. Can someone provide some possible diagnosis or troubleshooting answeres?
I'm pretty sure that your battery should always be at least at a constant value of slightly above 12 volts. (I've got a brand new battery here that is reading 12.6). When the battery isn't above this mark, there's never really a fully charged properly operating battery. Hopefully, this is your entire issue , (a depleted battery) . You can take it into an auto store for a free test just about anywhere to verify, but you've already done that. Some cars' systems are more susceptible to a slight voltage drop than others, though all require a certain minimum voltage to operate properly. Also, I've read more than a few times that more batteries actually fail in the summer months than in winters'. I hope I've been able to help you with this. Good Luck.
