It worked!
|
It worked!
Thanks Kirill! My wife's radio display is now working again thanks to you and mystifield and hypo! They say a picture is worth a thousand words. In this case, your pictures were worth a thousand bucks! Her display went out when she had about 95,000 miles, but I didn't find out about the extended warranty until after she'd gone over 100,000. We have a very early '03, bought in Oct, 2002, manufactured in Japan. The radio serial # is one of the first thousand and was manufactured in June, 2002.Quote:
Originally Posted by KirillS
Let me tell you my story about this problem.
I recently bought an 03 Accord off eBay. Got a great deal from a respected dealership and everything was great... EXCEPT the knobs and controls on the AC panel would not light up when my lights were on. The radio would light up and display just fine, and I could even see the green status lights that indicated whether the AC was on or not, but the back-lighting for the words on the controls and knobs would not work.
I googled the problem and found this topic. I saw that Honda was covering this up to 7 years / 100k miles, so I immediately printed off service bulletin 04-027 and went armed with it to my local dealership.
That was my first mistake. I should have contacted corporate Honda first.
The dealership took it in for a diagnostic and told me my problem was unrelated to service bulletin 04-027 because my radio display was working fine. I was told that the car's aftermarket alarm system may have caused the problem and that possibly there was a surge or spike that caused all of the backlights to short out. I would have to pay over $100 for them to replace the light bulbs, and it wasn't even guaranteed that this would work.
So, it was at this point I called corporate Honda. After describing my problem to them, they told me I should be covered and to go back to the dealership. I took the car back, and the dealership said the same thing. Then corporate Honda told me that since the dealership is their "eyes and ears", they must go by the dealership's diagnostic.
Fortunately, I know a guy who has a lot of clout at this particular dealership. He talked to their service department and they agreed to replace the radio circuit board for free even though they said this was not the problem. Wouldn't you know it... when I picked up the car, the backlighting was WORKING!
If I didn't have hookups at the dealership, I would have been screwed out of this free repair. I plan on calling corporate Honda to explain to them what all happened. Although I can't really blame the dealership so much as the exact wording on the service bulletin for the symptom is:
The audio display and controls (knobs, buttons, bars) of the audio-HVAC display module are dim or dark.
Well, my audio display definitely WASN'T dark. I could see the radio LCD just fine... everything ELSE was dark, and replacing the radio circuit board DEFINITELY fixed the problem.
I am going to contact corporate Honda so hopefully they will clarify this on their service bulletin.
If your Accord is having problems like described here, but your actual radio LCD is NOT dark, don't give up. You should be covered under this service bulletin!
This might just help, I do work for Honda Manufacturing, Anyway my 2003 did the same thing, I also realise that there is a service bullentin on this also. However when my car did this I was told it was just a matter of pushing a button. It worked. When the radio is off push the CD/AUX button for about 10 seconds and the lights go out, Do the same thing and the light comes back on. Give it a try.
Um... no offense but if it were just a matter of pushing a button, honda would not be doing a $700 repair for free. What you are describing is unrelated the issue described here.Quote:
Originally Posted by Honda guy38
Hi, I just ried that and id di not work. Are you sure there isn't something else that you did?Quote:
Originally Posted by Honda guy38
Quote:
Originally Posted by tgardner
I just brought my car back to the dealer today... 2003 Honda Accord EX Coupe. Same problem. It's a know problem. The circuit board is blown. They are fixing it at no cost under the regular original warranty (which I thought had expired). Bring it into a Honda Dealer or call them. First time I didn't have to fight with them about service. They've fixed my horn twice on that car... and my black vinyl window stripping after I complained and complained.
Now if only they had an audio aux jack fix so I can hook up my iPod.
Good luck
I have a Honda Accord EXL 2003 with 45000KM. I bought the car in November 2002. The backlight on my car went out a couple of weeks ago. When I ran through this blog, I was very disappointed with Honda because I don't have any extended warranty.
But, I just called my dealer and he said the warranty on this part was extended by Honda and he gave me an appointment to change the face plate (or may be the radio completely) on November 19th.
So, call your dealer and they should set it up.
Thanks for the diagram on removing the radio.I was just looking for one and hoping some one would have found one and shared it.Thanks
Thank you all for your informative posts. My 2003 Accord lost it's back-lights for radio/cd unit a week ago (under 45,000 miles). I did a back and forth phone conversation with the dealer as I read your experiences. Never did I have to call Honda America, I'm impressed with the dealer's service department and how efficient they are. The service bulletin referred to "04-027" is dated July 9, 2004 but a newer one was issued after they realized how to pinpoint the design flaw. Now only a chip/board (okay I'm not technical people) needs to be replaced. Yes, Honda did extend the warranty coverage for this so many out there only need phone their dealer armed with the 04-027 # but be aware that they use to replace your unit with a REFURBISHED unit. Now, you just get a new chip/board (okay - whatever) installed.Quote:
Originally Posted by tgardner
Thank you all for your advise!
I have the same problem. Honda USA sent me a notice extending the warr. On radio to seven yrs. The only problem they limited to 100k miles. Guess what they want to charge me $800 to fix the problem because I have over 100k. I am going to discuss this with Honda. They knew they had a problem but had an out on the mileage. This disturbs me that Honda will not take care of their customer. Hopefully they will take care of me.Quote:
Originally Posted by tgardner
Email me with any other comments [email protected]
Has anyone with a 2003 LX had this problem and gotten it solved by Honda America?
Can someone please help! I have a 2004 Honda Accord that does not fall under the VIN range that is on the bulletin. American Honda is not willing to help since I am the second owner. What can I do?Quote:
Originally Posted by tgardner
I have a 2003 LX with this problem. Calling Honda of America, I was told that my LX (non-V6) was not covered under the service bulletin. However, I inquired that I wanted to open a case on this. After ''talking to his supervisor'' I was told that the service bulletin had just been updated today to show all 03 models fell under this category. I know this is probably incorrect, and that they finally gave in. So now I have a case number and should get this resolved shortly! Keep pressing until they give in.
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.
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...
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.
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.Quote:
Originally Posted by tgardner
I just had mine repaired under a recall. Good up until 100,000 miles. Yes, You read it right.Quote:
Originally Posted by baskaran
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.
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.
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.Quote:
Originally Posted by KirillS
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.
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 .
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 weeks to accomplish... not very efficient service IMO.
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:
---
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.
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 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 won't go ahead with this. Extremely Disappointing!
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!
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...
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...
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.
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!
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!
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.
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...
I have an '04 EXL Coupe with 29k miles on it. My radio display just went out today. I researched online and found the most recent 04-027 to be dated Feb 5 2008 and my VIN is outside of the range. I also noticed that the VIN range had increased at least on my make and model. I have a call in to my dealer's service manager and am awating a response. Does anyone know if there is a more recent TSB out there?
Just want to add my experience with the Radio (actually the 6 CD changer radio) "going dark" on my 2003 Accord Ex (133,000 miles). Three days ago (Friday) my display went dim, then several hours later went out completely (shining a flashlight into the display I was able to see the graphics / alphanumerics). Searching the Internet I came across this web page and read for a few hours.
I called my local dealer and explained the situation along with the bulletin on this issue. She was very nice, put me on hold for a few minutes then told me there is nothing they can do for me because of the high mileage. Tried a few angles to get them to help me out, but they wouldn't budge. I did not call Honda America, because I figured it was a lost cause with my mileage.
I printed out the pages for how to take out the radio and how to modify the radio. Took me about an hour to get to the point where the radio was sitting on the bench. Took me another 20 minutes to figure out how to get the radio apart. Getting to R797 is a challenge! I couldn't even get the VOM probes on it to measure the resistance. I threw caution to the wind, fired up the soldering iron, and attempted to unsolder the resistor. Was able to get the easy side up, then with a little effort, got the other side up. I tined a (very) small piece of wire (14 gauge) and successfully soldered it in place of the resistor.
With some effort I got the radio put back together (trying to figure out which screws go where). With some skepticism I connected the cables back up to the radio to give a quick test before putting my dash board back together again. My biggest fear is that the entire radio/cd player would not work. I turned the radio on and...
IT WORKED! Display nice and bright (as advertised). Car put back together and I'm back in action. Many thanks to all that posted instructions and pictures; it helped immensely!
...Quote:
Originally Posted by tgardner
Thanks mystified88 your solution was the exact thing I was looking for. My 03 Accord was a salvaged title. The back light went out about 3 days ago. I called my local Honda dealer and they said the service had already been done on my VIN before so they won't do it again unless American Honda approved it. I called AH and they told me the same thing that it exceeds 7 years/150k miles warranty clause and they wouldn't cover it. They refused to acknowledge that it's the same problem, if they replaced it before they should have replaced it with a fixed model of the radio, not the same model with the same damn problem. I have a friend that works at a shop that might be able to replace it for me if he can't Im definitely going to open it up and fix it myself since its in my line of work anyway I Just don't have a lot of time to do it myself right now unless I have to. (the information I got here was so useful I had to register and post my case and my thanks)
I also forgot to mention my mom's 07 accord had the same problem and had to get it replaced as well. Now that I know there are pictures I'm definitely scouring back to find them, and fix her old unit just in case the replacement goes out again.
My 2005 Honda has had a problem with the radio. It started with the backlight, then started coming on during the middle of the night, (key not in the ignition) or sometimes just opening the car door would cause the radio to come on by itself. Honda says it's the radio which needs to be replaced at a cost of $500 for just the radio.
Unfortunately, my car is long out of warranty so I'll replace the radio before it again drains my battery.
| All times are GMT -7. The time now is 03:49 PM. |