Grdinding and smoke for the alternator?

12077 Views 30 Replies 13 Participants Last post by Ridgedave, Aug 27, 2014

tootalltrucker

Discussion Starter · Apr 11, 2014

I will try to make this short. 2009 Ridgeline, 60K miles
1. Get in car and it is DEAD. No clicks or anything.
2. Jump starts in 2 secs. Surprising seeing as it was DEAD.
3. Starts to make a grinding noise, almost like metal on metal, but with some smoke and electrical type smell. Looks like it is coming from the alternator area.
4. Have it towed to local garage, not a Honda dealer. He says it was a shorted battery. I explain about grinding noise and smoke and he says he had it running for 30 min and no issues.
5. Drive it for a week and no issues. Then yesterday the noise starts again so park it and take wife's car on our trip instead.

So,
A. Anybody experience this before?
B. Any suggestions on what I can check myself?
C. Think it might be best to take it to the dealer this time?

The local garage is reasonable and has always been good to me, but I need to get this fixed and be sure it won't fail me when on a trip.

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speedlever

· #7 · Apr 13, 2014

My dealer experience with having an alternator go out just as we pull out of the garage to leave on a vacation trip is that it's a one hour job to replace the alternator and the Sbelt. They will put on a reman unit. They will charge you nearly $600. But they will rescue you. You will pay for it.

If you elect to DIY, you can buy a reman alternator for around $205-$215 plus core charge (new is about $100 more). A new Sbelt is about $25-$30.

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speedlever

· #9 · Apr 13, 2014

jim, I confess to being lost regarding your comment about the tstat. Did I miss something?

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speedlever

· #12 · Apr 13, 2014

Ah well. Seeing as how I'm having trouble right now with my flux capacitor, my sarcasm detector is on the blink.

See my new trouble thread in the problems and issues forum. :act002:

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speedlever

· #16 · Apr 15, 2014

DumbJarhead said:
Ok, so after doing some reading, here's what I've found.

The smoke was probably being caused by your AC compressor clutch, which is probably stuck, because of a bad AC relay. The relay is probably faulty, which is causing a battery drain, and killing your battery over night.

This evening I got out a multimeter and used this video to check to see if I had a battery drain:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYUoXApI89Q

Then, I started pulling the fuses and found that it was the fuse that manages the AC compressor clutch. Futher reading found here, (http://www.ridgelineownersclub.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-33743.html) told me that it's probably the relay. My plan is to keep the battery disconnected until the morning, and then go change the relay before I go into work. I'm going to let it sit in the parking lot all day long and see if this has fixed my problem.

Here is another post that's got pictures:
http://www.ridgelineownersclub.com/forums/showthread.php?t=59305&page=2

Good luck.

If it's a stuck AC relay, I don't understand why he would have that grinding sound.

IAC, since he has an RTL, if it is the AC relay, I believe he can use the seat heater relay for the AC relay and find out if that fixes the problem.

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