So heres how the story plays out;
Left the house on my way to work this morning, everything seems normal. Just as im getting close to work the abs light comes on (ok thats strange).
Get to work and park, turn off ignition and turn it back on. Nothing, no power.
pop the hood adjust and tighten ground to battery, check most body grounds. Hop back in and it starts no problem. pull out the voltage meter at work and check battery voltage (fine), check alternator output (fine) ok. lunch time no problems, didnt go far just to get gas as driving to work was riding on gas light.
Then on my way home (completely unrelated im assuming) as im almost home i get this strong smell of burning oil through vents. Get home pop hood and check around, no leaking, oil level fine, no tell tell signs of oil and coolant mixing any where, Temp never increased. Im hoping that the smell i smelt was coming from the semi truck in front of me at the time but dont know.

What do ya think, did i miss anything? Any ideas im not thinking of?
Not entirely sure theres a problem at all!

 

The smell doesn't seem like anything and I'm guessing it was the truck in front of you but I would keep a nose out for it tomorrow.

The starting seems odd but did it seem like the battery ground was lose or corroded?

 

there isnt any corrosion on the terminals at all and battery is maybe a month or two old since i replace it once a year weather it needs it or not (plus its free) but when i "wiggled the ground it did wiggle like it was slightly loose and i noticed a hairline crack in the positive terminal connector that i will replace just on principal alone

 

IF u have a heavy key chain ive seen where it will tend to wear out the electrical portion of the ignition switch. but if u have a test lite u can easil y find where the spot that aint hot.just by hooking it up..testing it first the work your way down the positive cable.. remember to keep testing the light cuz sometimes the smallest little jiggle will cause you to lose your ground and make u think that yer car really IS strange..

 

Well, To update the situation; drove to work, drove around a little at lunch, and drove home same as yesterday and no smell so im going to assume the smell came from the truck i was behind and while driving on my lunch break as returned to the shop the abs light came on like it did yesterday morning but when i cut the car off it started back up with no problem and when i checked voltages, Battery and alt output were fine.

Ive been having issues with the abs light randomly being on for a while and any time i scan for abs codes with code reader no codes are there. i think i have a sensor intermittently going bad. oh well!

 

"... scan for abs codes..."
What kind of scanner? Some of them are not able to see ABS codes. Only check-engine codes.

 

Cant remember the brand but its the one we use at the shop, it scans for both cel and abs. It just always says no abs codes found/stored

 

OK, just thinking of the inexpensive ones you can borrow from AutoZone, etc. & trying not to take anything for granted.

 

The ABS for 94-97 Accords is same and codes can be extracted manually w/ service check connector shorted. ABS will flash codes. Same code; longs =10, shorts=1 w/ long pause between codes. See DiY forum for details.

Note, ABS resets each time system is cut off/on, so if code is intermittent it may not be presented.

good luck

 

Me - you know I like the view , but in this one it is a curb I'm stepping off.

The ABS story and the no start/power are related....what happens on this gen when the alt goes out....the abs trips (clue #1 for me).....and no code will be stored because of low voltage to the abs unit (clue #2).

Double/tripple check the cables on the battery and where they connect. Clean and tight, you know the drill.

Somewhere in my stupid memory, there was another member on here in late '10 early '11 that had an strange abs issue, light would just trip on while driving...no codes, ect. Finally found that the ground cable was not tight. Fix that and the abs didn't trip anymore .

So again....abs trips, had an issue with a no start/power.....humor me, it costs almost nothing to clean/tighten the cable ends.

EDIT: I'm not saying the alt is bad....I'm saying that the voltage to the abs "computer" - click sound you hear by the glove box - is not where it should be, therefore the abs light will trip. And yes when the alt on my 95 went...the abs came one. If nothing else start the car and pull the cable off the charging post from the alt.....the abs will trip as well as the charge light.