Return of bad symptom

[suspendedhatch]

A bad bolt? That mechanic is a crack. Tow your car out of there and cut your losses.

The timing belt and the alternator belt are not connected.

Yes, you put a pry bar in there and tighten it as much as you can. You wont overtighten it.

[Danronian]

It seems like you have bad luck with mechanics. Two weeks for an alternator issue isn't acceptable at all.

Sounds like he forgot to tighten something to me or possibly stripped a bolt and is covering for himself.

A bolt doesn't cause the alternators to keep going "bad." It could make it so the belt got loose and drained the battery, but that shouldn't have made it go bad unless it was bad from the first place. I would try your hardest to replace parts with new ones when you are paying someone to install the parts. The money you'd save in labor if/when the used one goes bad is worth it I would think.

Good luck and I wish you luck in trying to find a better mechanic.

[1993CivicVX]

Got my car back from the mechanic--yay! But the lingering idle thingy still not fixed He said it could be a spring somewhere? On the throttle body or something--last time the problem was caused by a clogged throttle body and problem was fixed by cleaning out the throttle body. But again, I don't see how the problem could return by the guy fixing the timing belt and fixing the alternator. Any thoughts/ideas? Oh.. one other thing--the car has more power than it did before!! Not a huge difference but appreciably noticeable--not sure why, but very very nice! Something to do with the spark plugs--when he did the compression the jerkiness in first and reverse was fixed when he put the plugs back in. (I must have put them in wrong! Further reasons why I don't like doing my own on my car.)

EDIT: he said it was something to do with the gas pedal not coming back all the way (maybe that's why it seems like it has more power--although it goes up hills in 5th that it wasn't able to go up before, so that indicates a genuine increase in power...)

[Nden]

omg bad bolt?! wtf i agree with suspended n daronian, never ever take ur car back to that dolt. he is covering for something he fkkdup or can't troubleshoot. sounds like he's blowing smoke up ur tail-pipe. gas pedal? BS

[Philip1]

sounds like he installed the timing belt a notch off and forgot the bottom BOLT on the alternator. I would look for another mechanic. as for the idle T think a good solution would be to remove the TB and clean out all the passages with throttle body cleaner. I had a friend with the same problem it turned out to be a partially blocked map passage.

[Danronian]

I agree, it does sound like the timing belt was off a notch.

That will affect the power output slightly.

I would switch mechanics again, sounds like he's not used to Hondas but doesn't mind "fixing" yours. Not a good combination for the customer.

Maybe the throttle body could be gunked up again, but I would suspect other things. You may want to lubricate the throttle cable. Just like how e-brake cables can get stuck in their cable housing, I'm sure it could happen a little bit with the throttle cable too. Just add some graphite or PB-Blaster down where the throttle cable goes into its housing. I really doubt it is spring related. Usually they are either on or not. On the same note it might help to lubricate where the gas pedal pivots on the inside of the firewall.

[1993CivicVX]

Mechanic added some PB-blaster (or something similar) to some nuts that adjust the spring for the throttle--fixed that problem: idles and shifts beautifully. The alternator seemed fixed but the battery light came on again and driving to the train station today I heard the whirring sound again that the alternator was making the last time it got real bad. I have to drive back to Amherst tomorrow (about 2 hour drive) and I hope the car will make it! Why does the alternator keep failing? Is it not because of turning the car off and on all the time? I know at the very least this exacerbates the problem--but I agree it shouldn't be causing the failure since other people do it too. But I do EOC before the car has warmed up. My mechanic is a friend and so far he has been very fair (even if he isn't the most experienced mechanic.) He picked me up again in Amherst and drove me to my car (second time he's done so). He also fixed the idle problem for free. He also discovered that one of my distributor wires is bad so I am returning the whole set for new ones under warranty. But that probably hasn't any bearing on the returning alternator problem.

I am going to get a new o2 sensor so I can stop with the excessive EOC--so if anyone finds a source for them relatively cheap--please keep me posted! This CEL seems to come on more and more with time, meaning the problem with the o2 sensor is not improving. Thanks again for all the input.

[jeep45238]

Your friend isn't a mechanic, he's a parts changer. Those folks just keep guessing and swapping parts, hoping that it'll solve the problem.

PB Blaster is used to loosen rusty nuts/bolts. It's a penetrating oil, nothing more, nothing less.

Go to a real shop, and put on a NEW alternator meant for your vehicle - not a junkyard alternator of any ol honda in the yard. This guy doesn't know **** from shine and is going to screw your car up in the process, sooner or later. I don't care how much of a friend of yours he is - get a different person, who does this for a living (preferably older, with 8+ ASE certifications).

[1993CivicVX]

So it's okay for other people who are not certified mechanics to work on their own cars or to work on my car, but it's not okay for a self made mechanic who's not certified to work on it? How does that make sense? Everyone keeps naysaying my mechanics--yet you guys encourage me to work on it myself as if I'm more competent than a mechanic! or to get advice from non-certified enthusiasts on the internet? I'm sorry, but that doesn't make sense. This guy is more experienced than me and he's fair. I'm not gonna take it to a "good" mechanic and pay through the nose. If someone on here does work on their car and they don't get it right the first time they don't say "jeez, I'm not even a mechanic! I better take it to a real certified mechanic before I wreck my car." No, you keep working at it till you get it right. As long as my friend isn't charging me twice to fix a problem that "should" have been fixed the first time, who am I to complain? He's not out to rip me off--he doesn't overcharge me--so instead of bashing him why don't you offer <b>constructive</b> help on why the alternator might be failing all the time?

[theholycow]

Originally Posted by 1993CivicVX

So it's okay for other people who are not certified mechanics to work on their own cars or to work on my car, but it's not okay for a self made mechanic who's not certified to work on it?

It appears that jeep45238 is trying to point out that, regardless of your mechanic's qualifications or lack thereof, his actions are not productive and will likely result in worse damage. When it's all said and done, it's not about certifications or education, it's about what has actually happened.

I know if I agree or disagree with what he says, but I hope that clears it up.