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?

HLElle

bassichonda96 wrote: "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... 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 [Kohm], and when replacing it with a 2.2 [Kohm] it does not work."

I was evaluating the numbers for my 93 Civic's radio station lighting circuit. I think its resistor is rated at 3.3 ohms (not Kohms). From my calculations, 3.3 ohms would pass the common sense test. I wonder if there was a typ-o in the design steps for the 2003 etc. Accord radio. Perhaps the correct resistance for the R797 resistor was meant to be 2.2 ohms (not 2200 ohms)? Here's my chatter on the subject that I put up at my site:

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The R902 resistor in my 93 Civic's OEM radio has what looks like two orange bands and two gold bands, so I think it is rated at 3.3 ohms. See the resistor color coding chart at Electronic color code - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. This passes the common sense test as well: With everything working correctly and at normal operating temperatures, a current of about 0.1 amp should get to the lamp, and so the voltage drop across the resistor would be about 0.33 volts. Thus the voltage to the lamp would still be very close to 8 volts.

I am hoping the 12 volt-rated lamp will be fine with no resistor and seeing 8 volts across it. The one caveat is that the R902 resistor's purpose probably is to minimize current to the lamp at startup. At startup the lamp filament is cold, and so its resistance is much lower. I found one site that suggested its cold resistance would be as much as a factor of 20 less than its hot resistance. Its hot resistance should be about 120 ohms (= 12 volts/0.1 amp). If its cold resistance is 1/20th of this, then its cold resistance is about 6 ohms. I estimate the design startup current should be about 0.9 amp ( = 8/9.3 ). Without the resistor, the startup current is about 1.3 amp ( = 8/6 ), or around 50% higher than the design startup current. Worst case, I expect the bulb, with the jumper instead of the resistor, to burn out sooner.

harpoon16

Hi,
I am having a horrible experience with my 03 Accord EX-L. The lights went out on my Radio. But since I had received the extended warranty notice, I took it in to my local dealer (Hudson Honda, NJ).

They went ahead and changed the PCB as per the service notice at no charge. But after that the whole thing worked for a couple of hours. Then the In-dash 6 CD changer went dead. I can still play the radio, but does not respond to any CD commands.

I took it back to the dealership. They claim they did not touch the CD player and therefore are not responsible for the breakdown of the player. I was on the phone for hours with both the dealership and Honda America. HA claims (after multiple times of putting me on hold), that they had no choice but to stand behind the dealership and their diagnosis.

The dealership wants to charge me $800 for putting in a new radio. I am very frustrated with the whole experience and feel very let down by Honda. I have always stood behind this brand, and was going to lease a new Accord, but after this I think I wont go ahead with this. Extremely Disappointing!!

Liberte

I have a 2004 Honda Accord Coupe EX V-6, and my radio/CD/HVAC display went dark yesterday. The functions work but I can't see anything like the radio stations, clock, temperature, CD's, etc.

After much searching (including this site) I was able to come up with the updated Service Bulletin for this problem, which occurs in both 2003 and 2004 Honda Accord models. The problem is in the printed circuit board, which must be replaced. The warranty has been extended to 7 yrs and 105,000 miles. See link below to Service Bulletin 04-027, update dated February 5, 2008:

http://www.justanswer.com/uploads/th..._03_accord.pdf

Now I need to go to the local dealer and request service--let's see how that goes!

jbronco

Just called American Honda.....I was told they could do nothing to help me and the responsibility to get the dark audio display module repaired was completely mine. Very disappointing to say the least. I bought the 2004 Accord EX-V6 new at a dealership thinking it was good choice for someone who puts about 35K miles per year on a vehicle commuting to and from work (140 mile round trip daily). I was wrong. I replaced the transmission after 170K at my expense even though Honda new they had a crap tranny in it. The driver side door lock malfunctions to a point where the door cannot be unlocked (manually or electronically) unless you put the window down and pull on the exterior door lever a few times (a major pain in the butt if its raining or snowing). The light on the driver side heated seat switch has gone out. Now I have to deal with a crap circuit board inside the stereo. It appears that what used to be uncompromising quality for Honda has turned into "make a car that can survive the warranty period" and lets help our dealers make some more money with "out of warranty" repairs. Its just plain disappointing. This is the kind of service I would expect from no-one......

jbronco8

Just called American Honda.....I was told they could do nothing to help me and the responsibility to get the dark audio display module repaired was completely mine. Very disappointing to say the least. I bought the 2004 Accord EX-V6 new at a dealership thinking it was good choice for someone who puts about 35K miles per year on a vehicle commuting to and from work (140 mile round trip daily). I was wrong. I replaced the transmission after 170K at my expense even though Honda new they had a crap tranny in it. The driver side door lock malfunctions to a point where the door cannot be unlocked (manually or electronically) unless you put the window down and pull on the exterior door lever a few times (a major pain in the butt if its raining or snowing). The light on the driver side heated seat switch has gone out. Now I have to deal with a crap circuit board inside the stereo. It appears that what used to be uncompromising quality for Honda has turned into "make a car that can survive the warranty period" and lets help our dealers make some more money with "out of warranty" repairs. Its just plain disappointing. This is the kind of service I would expect from no-one......

jbronco8

Does anyone know if I can just replace the printed circuit board and fix my problem. I managed to find one and thought this would be an easy way (and much cheaper) to fix the problem. Just not sure what this entails.

mkmccleeary

Awesome advice everyone. It is August 04, 2009 and I just purchased an Accord EX Coupe pre-owned a couple weeks ago. After reading all the posts, I was able to call Honda and get a case number. I am taking the car in on Friday and since the warranty on this issue was extended for 7 years (which apparently ends this November) I am still eligible. I would have tried to get this fixed on my own?! Now if I could just figure out why my keyless entry works on everything except the passenger door (intermittently) then this would be a perfect car!

mkmccleeary

Awesome advice everyone. It is August 04, 2009 and I just purchased an Accord EX Coupe pre-owned a couple weeks ago. After reading all the posts, I was able to call Honda and get a case number. I am taking the car in on Friday and since the warranty on this issue was extended for 7 years (which apparently ends this November) I am still eligible. I would have tried to get this fixed on my own?! Now if I could just figure out why my keyless entry works on everything except the passenger door (intermittently) then this would be a perfect car!

sheilamac

Last Wednesday the backlights went out on the radio system/HVAC console in my 2003 Honda Accord V6 EX. By Saturday, the radio also went dead.
Called Honda corporate today to be told I'm beyond the extended warranty they offered (a bulletin I never received) and they won't help.
The service manager at my dealership said the backlight issue was the defective circuit board and the fact that the radio went out right after that is very suspicious. The best he said he can do is to send the entire radio unit out to be fixed at a flatrate of $250, including the circuit board issue. I think Honda should at least pay the $150+ it would alone cost to fix the circuit board. If it's all related, they should pay the whole fix. It shouldn't matter that the car is 15,000 outside the extended radio warranty. A bad radio is a bad radio and they knew about it early on.
Has anyone else had their radio go dead soonafter the display went black?
I'm not done with Honda on this issue. But, I may be done with Hondas in the future. This is the third one I've owned, but I don't think I'll sink my money into one again.

mantagon

My 2003 Accord LX's backlight went dark last night! I searched the web and found this site and after reading the posts here felt a little relief and decided to call Honda today.
The agent that I talked to flatly refused to take care of the problem and said that it is my responsibility. I told about the service bulletin, this website to no avail! I asked he if I could talk to her supervisor and after keeping me on hold for 10 minutes, told me that her supervisor is also of the same view and that they cannot do anything. I asked her to open a case, which she also refused to. She said since my accord's millage is 87000 and that my trim level is LX, they cannot do anything!
I plan on calling them again and see if I can get someone more reasonable! Anyone has a different/better approach? Thanks in advance! I'm having doubts on Honda now...