2003 Honda Accord Wiring problem

tgardner · Mar 25, 2005, 02:27 PM

My 2003 Honda Accord EX has a problem with the backlighting on the radio and the ac controls. All the lights have gone out, but everything else on it seems to work still. I have looked for a blown fuse but could not find one. Any suggestions?

mconners · Mar 10, 2008, 10:41 AM

I own a 2003 Honda Accord EX and have the dark display problem as discussed in this forum. I just called Honda America at 1-800-999-1009. I cited the 04-027 service bulletin and this forum. They told me the issue has an updated service bulletin as of Feb 2008. The warranty has been extended for 7yrs or 105,000 miles. Just take the car in and have the issue diagnosed. The Honda dealer of your choice will diagnose the problem and replace the radio free of charge. I will update further when I have the radio replaced at the dealer.

jwillterp · Mar 10, 2008, 10:50 AM

Yes, I got the same response about three weeks ago when I called American Honda. I took it to my local dealer who is replacing it free of labor and parts. However, they did need to send the radio to American Honda to get fixed. I was told it would take between 5 and 90 days!!!!! I am still waiting, day 30 and counting....

mconners · Mar 15, 2008, 07:11 AM

I thought I would update my experience for "jwillterp" and others. I did take my Honda in to the dealer (Pohanka Honda in Fredericksburg, VA). They diagnosed the problem and replaced the radio. The process took about 1 1/2 hours. No questions and no charge. My 2003 Honda has 69,000 miles.

nicolaas · Mar 23, 2008, 01:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tgardner

My 2003 Honda Accord EX has a problem with the backlighting on the radio and the ac controls. All the lights have gone out, but everything else on it seems to work still. I have looked for a blown fuse but could not find one. Any suggestions?

I’m an electronics engineering Friday 21 march 2008; I was repairing a display problem of a Honda accura 2004 the Radio, clock an air-conditioning lights was not working. I was a little bit afraid because so far I now the new radio’s have a pin code, so I’ve to work on the radio without disconnect the power but let I make it shorter at the begin of the main-print board close to the big transistors is a small (little) black fuse 2.3A, I’ve solder a new one and the lights works again. The fuse is between a diode and a transistor. I was looking on the internet and I saw that lot of people with Honda cars have the same problem. The best thing is to let a technician repair it for you.

phoenix honda · Apr 21, 2008, 10:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by baskaran

Just this morning as got in my car, I noticed that the radio/CD/clock display is dead. The radio works. It looks like the LCD backlight is dead. The lights behind the climate control buttons are fine.

I still have close to year/11000 miles of my 3 year / 36000 miles warranty left. This problem is covered by the warranty, I assume. Has anyone had difficulty getting this fixed under this warranty?

Thanks,

Baskaran

I just had mine repaired under a recall. Good up until 100,000 miles. Yes, You read it right.

phoenix honda · Apr 21, 2008, 10:36 AM

I found a recall for this problem online. Google honda radio recall. Good up to 100,000 miles. Strictly a lighting problem. Not a CD repair.

Fosteros · Feb 14, 2009, 04:00 AM

Go to your Honda Dealer service department and have them type your VIN into their computer. It will list all of the recalls and a "C" will be beside the recall # if your vehicle has had the work done.

bassichonda96 · Mar 3, 2009, 05:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KirillS

I would like to thank mystifield88 and hypo for the instructions on how to fix this problem. It took only two hours and wasn't difficult even for a software engineer like me. Here are my notes and photos that may help you.

To get to the radio out follow the instructions on Eric's blog. Note that the lower part of the face plate is fastened with three clips that are very tight. At one moment I thought that it is going to break so tight it was. I suggest you find these clips with your fingers and push them out with a screwdriver.

I removed a dozen of tiny bolts all around the radio and got to the circuit board.

The resistor is on the left side of the board close to the heat sink. It located between two black elements and marked as R797.

The space is very tight. I wasn't able to remove the heat sink and it was difficult to solder this resistor out even with a small soldering gun from RadioShack. I found a spec for this resistor on the Internet. It supposed to be 2.2 kOhm but when I took it out it t was 20 mega Ohm. I wanted to replace it with a regular size resistor but was afraid to touch elements that are near by. So I decided to short it with a piece of wire.

I put everything back and it worked! I am so happy

I found this board.

If you need help with your radio in the Boston area feel free to contact me.

With best regards,
Kirill

I wanted to let you all know that I have gotten this problem fixed as well, however, we DID replace the resistor with a 2.2K ohm 1/4watt resistor (upping the wattage to prevent overload again) and it DID NOT work. We then cut the resistor off and did what everyone else did, just jumped the resistor with a bead of solder.

I also wanted to make note, the reference to the Panasonic radio PDF (quoted above), I believe, is incorrect. The resistor says 2.3 on it, the PDF shows R797 as a 2.2, and when replacing it with a 2.2 it does not work.

Thanks to those who posted the necessary information to fix this issue.

Also, I could not get Honda America to do anything for me on this issue. My car has 112k miles and the extended warranty ran out at 100 or 105k and they are very strict on extending extended warranties. My quote from my local dealership was $165 for a new board with installation, which would have been my next option if this solder jumper wouldn't have worked.

HLElle · Mar 14, 2009, 01:50 PM

My 1993 Civic OEM radio's station backlight also was not working. I too suspected that one of the resistors was faulty. The discussion here helped me confirm it. Thanks especially to mystified88 but also hypo, firstandlasthonda, kyrills, vietsb, gprentice and bassichonda96 for their input. I used an ordinary staple (as in what you find in the stapler of your home office) as a jumper. My writeup appears at honda.lioness - Radio Light .

stampman · Mar 16, 2009, 10:11 PM

Also, I could not get Honda America to do anything for me on this issue. My car has 112k miles and the extended warranty ran out at 100 or 105k and they are very strict on extending extended warranties. My quote from my local dealership was $165 for a new board with installation, which would have been my next option if this solder jumper wouldn't have worked.[/quote]

I finally got my 03 Accord fixed today and it cost $108 for my Honda dealer to replace the circuit board in the radio. I just turned 106K miles and you're right, they did not fix it under warranty even though I had called Am. Honda twice and had gotten a case # on the problem. All of this took 6 wks to accomplish....not very efficient service IMO.



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