Car Just Stopped today on the way to school - Honda Prelude Forum

jsmooney · 08-25-2003, 09:34 PM

so, i turned outta my driveway and my radio suddenly stopped playing. I was like "okay, i'll just do without radio for today, no biggie, i'll fix the fuse before i go home" theny about .25 miles later, before i turned onto another residential street, i hear this whining sound coming from under the hood. i turn off the A/C and listen for a sec and the car just dies. no lights, nothing. so, i got out and popped the hood while people were passing me, how embarassing was that! Anyways, i jiggled positive battery post (and the wire that connects) and then i hear the fuel pump cut back on and the radio. Then i got in my car, cranked it, drove it 25+ miles to school and back, no problem. I have no clue what caused this. I know i did not stall it out because i was stopped with the clutch all the way in. And the whining from something worries me as well too. Any ideas on what may have caused this?

h23tuner · 08-25-2003, 10:28 PM

alternator?

spin_r_g · 08-25-2003, 10:34 PM

Clean the connection on the battery terminal. Then make sure its tight when you reconnect it. It might be the alternator also like mentioned.

yield · 08-25-2003, 11:21 PM

ya if you start hearing a squeal, like from a loose belt, it's probably the bearings in your alternator that are going. You can have it rebuilt for <$100.

CrazieLude · 08-25-2003, 11:35 PM

alternator would be my guess.

jtcdudeman · 08-26-2003, 07:55 AM

Jonathon.. Listen to the wise POers... Sonuds like they know their stuff... First clean the terminals really well and go from there... Simple as that...

jsmooney · 08-26-2003, 05:27 PM

i figure it is the battery since i jiggled it and everything turned back on, i am just going to ignore the alternator for now....

rogera04 · 08-26-2003, 07:08 PM

I had the same problem without the weird noise. my deck stopped getting power so I just assumed the battery connection wasnt good. My car didnt die though. All I did was just fix the battery connection and everythigns been fine since then.
Are you sure that you didn't kill it because if you killed it then you obviously wouldnt be able to start it with no battery connection... If it just died randomly I'm guessing it might be something more than just a bettery problem. Hope this helps.

PRelude787 · 08-26-2003, 08:55 PM

I had a similar problem a couple months ago. I was driving and everything electrical in the car just went dead.....lights, radio, wipers...etc. Then all of a sudden it just came back on. Did this three times in a row. I pulled over and cleaned all the battery terminal connections. After that it was perfectly fine.

I don't know if that is what the problem was but, it never did it again. That was the first and last time anything like that ever happened to my car.

irishpilot · 08-26-2003, 11:34 PM

mine does this.... I needed to put the cables on the terminals tighter. how many miles is on your lude?