Civic EX 1.7L

• Automatic transmission
• 93,389 miles

First, on a long drive (~120mi) my car started making noises and then suddenly the engine turned off. I restarted the engine and drove the last 5mi. Also the AC would only work for the first second after I turned it on and after that would simply blow hot air.

I brought the car in for an oil change and decided to drive it back down (~120mi) and just before I got there the battery died. I replaced the battery and car operated fine (~$100). I brought it into a checker and they said the alternator was dead.

Drove it to a repair place, and after they had replaced the alternator (~$400) I was told the reason that the alternator died was because the AC Compressor was locking up which caused the alternator to fail. Without replacing this the new alternator would simply die just like the old one did. This repair was too costly for me (~$1100), so I asked if there was a way to just bypass the AC Compressor. After a while the repair guy found a belt he thought would fit right and I have driven it around 100mi without any problems.

The biggest problem I have is the fact that I rarely use my AC. But I guess this belt is attached to the AC Compressor all the time, and perhaps even using the AC more would have prevented it from dying so soon. I am just really frustrated.