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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?
If you read up I have posted this numerous times already... call HONDA, and they WILL take care of the problem. They KNOW this is a chronic situation and are willing to stand by their product. Once again... do your part, call and let them know you are affected by the LED lighting problem, they will fix it for free. Do not try to deal with your local dealership first. They CAN'T help you. Call Honda, they will contact the dealership of your choosing and the problem WILL be taken care of at no expense to you. Please do not listen to the hyper sensitive people who think Honda is out to scam anyone. They aren't! Every major manufacturer has experienced one problem or another with a particular model year. At least Honda is willing to do something about it. Let them. Other manufacturers have done much less. Honda will take care of you. Feel confident in this. I have been there and had nothing but prompt, courteous service. Recalls are safety concerns, and this is not, and should not be made into a situation where Honda didn't do their due diligence. A service bulletin was issued as technical assistance to Honda dealers making them aware of this situation, and in fact one was issued. This does not give the dealership the right or the cost return guarantee to fix the part for free. This is exactly why you need to contact Honda directly and let them contact your dealership. They WILL! Sorry if this sounds harsh, but I have tried numerous times to assist those of you in my situation how to correct your problem rather easily and I keep reading the fly off the handle posts about Honda. I appreciate the gas mileage, aesthetics, heated leather, and many other features of my car that have never given me reason to complain. Let's not let one easy fix problem trash the reputation of an otherwise stellar performing car. Another point...my boyfriend is a service manager for a Mercedez -Benz dealership. A regular maintainance appointment without a service issue by them is $200 plus. And for this you get an oil change and tire rotation, and ohhh yeahhh.. Maybe a very expensive bottled water while you wait. Think about it! And... have a great new year. My motto? Don't sweat the small stuff! It just gives you another reason to complain when all you have to do is watch the evening news to realize how good your life really is. Love and Peace, Dana
Got my car back today, after having radio replaced for free. I brought the issue up directly with my dealership, as Honda was closed over the long weekend when I discovered this site. Dealership did the right thing & I do love my car! Thanks again to you all...good luck. I'm very glad I checked the web before pulling out the credit card.
Well my call went in early Thursday morning, and they said I did not need the case number and someone would call me.....I have heard nothing yet. I am ragging on Honda for the fact they are making us jump through hoops for their mistake. I think that is bad business. Some are getting this taken care of, I hope that my phone rings early Monday morning. I love my Honda, but I don't like the way that they are handling the problem. They have great customer service everytime I call, I will give them that. So is it my local dealer that is taking so long? If they fix the problem, they will have my respect, until then, none until the error is corrected. I understand that fluks happen, but this is a big one affecting a lot of people, not in a safety aspect no, but in one that people are questioning the reliability and luxury of Honda and or it's dealerships.
I went to Honda with my backlight problem,the car was out of warranty and they stood by there product.I got a new radio at no cost.This is why you stick with Honda.They recognized a problem and stood by their customers
Hi all, I just joined this forum because I seem to have the same problem as you all, but my unit went out at around 16,000 miles! (a new record? ). My car is a rebuilt title, it had very minor front end damage with no electrical system damage and I got a hell of a deal, drives like a new car. But since my title is officially salvage, Honda acts like I'm not even a person. To be honest, I wasn't expecting them to be very kind.
I'm handy with a soldering iron, however. If anyone could direct me to the specific component to fix, I would be very obliged! Mystified88 stated it was a resistor, however I am sure there are dozens of resistors in there. And mystified, you have your e-mail blocked!
If anyone can help please post here or feel free to e-mail me at
Hi! Congratulations to everyone who can have Honda exchange the radio for you!!! I'm basically posting this for people who are do-it-yourselfers, and who know a bit of electronics. The part that goes bad in the radio which powers the lamps and backlight is a resistor. Yep, it only costs about a dollar! It's a special resistor though, not like the rest on the board. If you can fix things, here is what you do. Take the radio out - this is truly the hard part! Open the bottom by first taking off the heatsink and some screws. Pry the bottom off carefully and remove the circuit board. Unplug the ribbon cable and look at the Parts side of the board. Located very near the heatsink is a resistor labeled something like R727 (sorry not exact) You can't miss it... it is black and located between two other parts that appear similar. I wish I had photos! Anyway, if you'd like, measure the part. It should read virtually a short 0.1 ohms or zero ohms. The problem is that it doesn't, and that is why your radio lights don't come on. It gets very hot, and after some time burns open to Megaohms. Solder a piece of wire (jumper) over it, and the lights should work again. I believe the two parts that surround this resistor are both diodes, but I can't remember exactly. Anyway, it is RIGHT next to the metal that holds the transistors and audio chip to the heatsink. I don't think I am stiring anyone wrong here! This is a very small part though, so be carefull not to hurt the circuit board while soldering. If you are capable of this type of work, then you know how to use an ohm meter to read the part. It should read a short if good!
Thank you very much mystified. I will get to work right away. I remember taking the unit out before and the radio was very hard to dislodge from the rest of it to access the circuit boards. However now that I know what to fix I will be more motivated to find a way in . One question though- would jumping this component cause any damage further down the road? I would imagine with such a low resistance the difference would be negligible, just asking.
For those who are wondering, I don't believe shorting/jumping the resistor will cause any problems. If you really know your thing, open a digikey catalog, and try to find a good replacement part. I would suggest buying a surface mount fuse instead with correct spacing and a value somewhere around 3 amps. It wasn't my car, so I took out the part and soldered a wire in it's place! That resistor will not be a problem anymore! Hey! IT IS WHAT I DO!
Update- I've found the part. It is reading 300,000 ohms so this must be it. It is part number R797 and is a small black box like surface mount resistor, but still fairly large. Unfortunately this part cannot be accessed from the back (solder side) as it's wiring is sandwiched in the board. So I'm going to jump it from the component side of the board. Since I only have a normal soldering iron and not a SMT model, this should be fun as there's barely any space between the part and the heat sink assembly. I'll post another update when it's back in the car. Wish me luck!
Final update- I am happy to report that this worked great. My radio unit now works exactly as new. Thanks a million mystified88! Here's a cyber-beer to you!
). My car is a rebuilt title, it had very minor front end damage with no electrical system damage and I got a hell of a deal, drives like a new car. But since my title is officially salvage, Honda acts like I'm not even a person. To be honest, I wasn't expecting them to be very kind.
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