Electrics die but engine doesn't stall
 

Hi all,

Just bought an 08 Honda Fit Sport w/ 89k miles. I had something weird happen to me all of a sudden. I was driving and then noticed my gauges dimmed for a sec and returned back to normal. Then I turned on the radio and every now and then, JUST the radio would turn off and then it would turn back on. So I put the A/C on full blast, I put the headlights on, and drove around and every now and then, it was as if the car was stalling, but the engine kept running. It even got to a point where all the dashboard lights came on (power steering, SRS, etc) as if the engine stalled, yet the engine was still running. One tap of the gas and everything returned to normal. What's going on??

It was a little humid yesterday but it wasn't even raining. Anyone have an experience like this?

Actually I just recently had a similar experience. Everything shut off while the car was driving and like you said the engine stayed on, this happened twice in one day and hasn't happened since. That was last week and without the symptoms continuing I can't really diagnose anything. If you find anything out please post here. I initially just attributed it to my belt, I figured it was probably slipping and since I am close to 100,000 miles it needs to be changed soon anyway.

Sounds like an alternator. The engine is grabbing the juice from the battery so it probably won't stall if the alternator quits.

If this is only noticeable when the engine is idling or running rather slowly, I'd tend to suspect a loose or otherwise poor battery connection (or a practically dead battery, but that would tend to give trouble starting, I'd think).

With a good battery, there should be enough power to keep things going even if the alternator cuts out momentarily. There would be a noticeable dimming of lights etc., but things like the radio and ECU shouldn't reset themselves. In fact, the ELD will more or less cut out the alternator when it's not necessary in order to save a bit of fuel.

If the battery is the original one, it's hardly worth doing any troubleshooting without replacing it first. It's almost certainly at the end of its life—or well beyond it, depending on your climate and general usage. (I've always gotten six or eight years out of car batteries, but some here say that two years is about normal...it seems to vary a great deal.)

Well, I couldn't repeat it today. I wonder if the humidity had anything to do with it?

But I also went to Autozone and the guy said the battery needed to be replaced and that the alternator checked out fine. But then I also brought it to a mechanic I trust and he said it was just a loose terminal connection.

That might have fixed it? I'm not sure. All I know is that I haven't been able to reproduce it since yesterday.

Oh, it's not on its original battery. Switched to a Bosch (but I think a lower tier one).