My Honda Accord 96 model alternator not working and not charging the battery, I changed the alternator and one of the wire was disconnected by the electrician because the dash board battery light was not coming on while the second wire was connected to the positive terminal for the light to come on on the dash board. The alternator began to work but after a while, it stopped working. What could be the cause?

Hi, you have to have the battery connected while the engine is running as the alternator is sending a trickle charge back to the battery to keep it charged up. When the alternator does not find the battery then the circuit is broken as you disconnected the connection .

You have a loose wire or cable, or have blown a fuse or fusible link somewhere. Check battery terminals, connections to the alternator, negative terminal to engine, engine to body, battery to body. A voltmeter is essential for speed and accuracy. A mechanic can sort this out in no time flat.

Check to make sure that all the connectors are hooked back up correctly and that the ground wire has a good ground connection. If all connections are good then it could just be a bad alternator, I've seen it happen once in awhile. Hope this helps!

Shut off engine and let it cool down. Remove the alternator bolts. This will loosen belt and allow you to remove alternator. Disconnect and label wires. Have a helper help you install new alternator while tightening belt. You need about 1/8 inch slack on the belt. You can purchase a belt tension tool to help you measure. Tighten alternator bolts and plug wires. Turn on engine and check that battery holding steady voltage.

Remove your alternator and starter and take them down to an auto parts store to be load tested. Use an amp meter to double check that your battery is reaching AT LEAST 12.5 volts. If it is getting anything less than 12v, such as 11.5 or 11 or 10.5 or anything under 12.5, then it too needs to be replaced.

If your alternator and/or alternator test to not be working, replace them. If they test to be working just fine, check your battery terminals for calcium build up, old terminals, bad cables or a bad ground. Check the alternator and starter wiring for the same wear.

get the tools out ,disconnect battery then start work taking it off .

Start with disconnecting the battery, the remove the belt. You can just remove the tensioner bolt altogether. Then remove the lower bolt. Disconnect the connector from the alternator, remove the nut Hilding the battery cable to the back of the alternator. Remove as gentle as possible, so you don't need to fix anything else. Have fun

with the engine running remove pos cable from battery and if it dies,bad alt.

Interesting problem. There are a number of things that can contribute to these symptoms: Battery not holding charge, charging system not working, bad/corroded battery and/or starter cable connections, and of course something draining the battery when the ignition is off.

Before doing these tests, make sure the battery is fully charged by disconnecting it from the car and charging it 24 hours with an external battery charger.

Is the charging system (alternator) working? Accords have an idiot light, not an ammeter/voltmeter, so it could be your car isn’t charging and the indicator light is burned out. Connect a voltmeter to a fully charged battery and observe the voltage (should be about 13.8 volts). Now start the car and observe the voltage again, should be higher than before (around 15 volts). If the voltage doesn’t increase at least slightly either the alternator belt is loose and slipping or the alternator is bad.

Are the battery terminals tight/clean? Any corrosion on the terminals or wires? How about the end that connects to the starter? How about the ground wire to chassis? Any corrosion could produce an intermittent connection problem that acts like a dead battery.

The battery may be new…but is it good? Charge it, connect it and confirm the car starts. Then DISCONNECT the battery, let sit 24 hours, re-connect and try to start. If the battery now acts dead maybe it is bad. Exchange under warranty.

And last, something is discharging the battery. First question, do you have any non-Honda add-ons like an aftermarket audio system with a power amp? Audio power amps have a direct wire to the battery for greater power, if the amp isn’t turning off then you’ll have a drain. Try disconnecting such equipment and see if your problem goes away. If that’s not it connect an ammeter in series with the battery with the ignition OFF and start pulling fuses one by one until you find what’s causing the drain.

Hope this helps!

how do I remove a alternator from a 19988 honda accord?