Got a 04 Accord EX V6…188K miles. My wife was driving and using the cruise control. The cruise stops working and the AC stops blowing cold. She calls me on the phone to ask for help. Shes several hundred miles away. Told her to pull over and see if anything happens if she turns the car off and then back on. She turns the ignition off and back on and gets back on the interstate. Everything works again.

Fast forward a couple weeks to today. Shes on the road again. This time not only does the AC stop blowing cold and the cruise stops working but all the dash gauge needles cycled to the off position and then back on all the while the car stayed running. The cruise did not come back on or AC blowing cold even though the gauges returned to normal on their own. She had to once again pull over, turn of the ignition, then turn the ignition bake on to get the AC to blow cold air and cruise to work again.

My 14 year old son is very sick and she takes him twice a month for treatments at the Childrens Hospital in Birmingham. Its a couple hundred miles one way. Im scared she might break down so Im trying to get to the bottom of this problem. Im mechanically inclined and have tons of tools and equipment so Im sure I can fix the issue If I had a better understanding of what it could be. Car has a 6 month old battery and a 3 month old alternator. Both check good….Im thinking maybe ignition switch but not sure if Im even close.

 

You are on the right track. I was thinking to check the charging system based on your description, That would include testing battery, alternator, or the battery cables. Ignition switch is possible as well, but doesn't exactly match your description based on my experience.

Was any work done on the car not long before these symptoms started?

One thing you can't assume is a new part is working properly, especially with the alternator. I've seen posts on here where a new part was bad out of the box or failed prematurely. Aftermarket rebuilt alternators seem to have this issue.

I don't recommend replacing parts before testing. For testing, scan for codes if you have a scanner or stop by a parts store and have them scan for codes. This may give you a direction for testing.

How did you test the battery and alternator? Voltage tests on the battery are a good first step to check the charging system, but can be misleading. A voltage drop tests is the next step on each battery cable and the cable from the alternator to the battery. Simple test where you connect your volt meter to each end of the cable, then you measure the voltage when the circuit is running current (so car has to be running). A perfect wire will have zero volts, but a bad wire connection will have voltage (say >0.5 to 1V). There are some good youtube videos I can recommend watching on this subject.

Are the battery terminal clamps original or replaced with aftermarket clamps?