I just finished reading all that has been posted about the 2003 Honda lighting problem problem. My radio light and center console light just went out two days ago. Of course the fuses were good, so I called the Honda dealership. It turns out there is a service bullenton on that problem. Even though the warranty is out, the dealership or Honda will fix the problem if your car is less that 7 years old or has less than 107,000 miles. The dealership I used is Honda of Slidell and they are GREAT to deal with. People are very nice.

I had the same problem. My wife told me the radio light just went out.
I found a warrantee extension from Spring 2007. It covers 2003-2004 Accord audio unit display to 7 years or 100,000 miles. My car will be 7 years old in 3 weeks. My wife is going to the dealer tomorrow.
I states; if the audio display becomes dark or dim, or if the HVAC buttons do not illuminate when the headlights are on, take your vechicle to any Honda dealer for inspection. If the dealer finds a problem to be the audio unit display, and your vechicle is within the extended warratee time/mileage limits they will replace the printed circuit board (PCB) inside the audio unit, free of charge. Please plan to leave your vechicle at the dealer for half a day to allow flexibility in scheduling.
I called the dealer before I found this warrantee extension and they said they called the factory to perhaps split the cost of the repair and the factory refused. I got lucky as I save everything. My wife thinks I'm nuts.

12/17/09 Called Honda (800-900-1009) and quoted Service Bulletin 04-027. She told me that my 2003 Honda Accord LX V4 4-door DOES NOT qualify for a goodwill repair. They've modified the original SB from 2004 three times... and now mine is no longer covered. I'm ticked! I even paid for an extended warranty, which just expired, but not even that would cover it-- she said only the original 3 yr warranty would cover this or the SB-- but mine is EXCLUDED! Doubt I'll ever buy a Honda again considering how UNHELPFUL they were with this.

Liberte: Thanks for posting the latest 04-027 Service Bulletin. I have a 2004 EX four cyl sedan, and the radio and heating lights went out last night. After unsuccessfully searching for a blown fuse, I googled the problem and found this forum. My Accord only has 59,000 miles, so I am hoping my local dealer will fix it for free. Will post later with the outcome. If it turns out to be bad news, I will attempt the resistor fix described in this thread, because there's no freaking way I'm paying $700 to fix this.

I got lucky. My local dealership is honoring the service bulletin, and fixing my radio at no charge. The latest bulletin extends coverage for this particular problem to 7 years or 100,000 miles. I never thought much about the Honda factory radio, but now realize that it's nearly impossible to substitute a 2nd party radio due to the design of the dash and how it's integrated. That's probably why a class action suit was filed and won against this issue.

I am the second owner of my car and in check the history, Honda replace the radio before I purchased it... Now 2.5 years later the new radio and HVAC buttons will not illuminate at night. The display is fine. So for you guys that got Honda to replace your radio, be on the lookut for the proble to come back again in a about two years. Honda was not help to me as I am out of warranty 135,000. Any suggestion on what resistor to replace to make the HVAC and radio buttons light up again at night?

You can buy the printed circuit for the radio from honda for $99 canadian from local honda dealer... takes 15 minutes to change once radio is removed... part is usually in stock

Thank mystified88 and Hypo for fixing information. I am the un-lucky one on this problem. I am the original owner of my 2003 Accord v6. The radio light went dim last weekend, after 7 years and 2 months, 150,000 miles. So I am out of the ext warranty. I called Honda USA and went to my local dealer. They would not standby their product. Although they know it is a defect from Honda design/manufacture, Honda does not want to fix it. I am sure there are a lot of 03/04 accords out there will have this problem soon or later.
Now I have no choice nut fix it by myself. I know many owner jump the R171 on the radio board. I am wondering how it goes after so many years of the fix. Has it been good since about 2005?

Same problem with my '03 Accord. Called Honda American, 1-800-999-1009, on Nov. 15, 2010 and was told it is too late and Honda would give no help in fixing the problem. Any suggestions? John N. in Brentwood, Tennessee

To all the previous writers on this board - YOU ROCK! An independent dealer lead me to this site and after reading the responses regarding the Honda Accord radio back light circuit board issue, I was able to get the board replaced at no cost including diagnostics. For all out there it is not a fuse so don't waste your time. Call your dealer and if they are uncooperative regardless of mileage, explain to them nicely that you are going to open a ticket with American Honda. Believe me when I say they will start to back track and try to assist you anyway they can. 1st they told me I was out of warranty (72,000 + miles), then once the American Honda ticket was mentioned the tune they were singing changed in a hurry. Head the words of all that have written before me.

There should be a TSB on this well-documented problem.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Keith2010

Thank mystified88 and Hypo for fixing information. I am the un-lucky one on this problem. I am the original owner of my 2003 Accord v6. The radio light went dim last weekend, after 7 years and 2 months, 150,000 miles. So I am out of the ext warranty. I called Honda USA and went to my local dealer. They would not standby their product. Although they know it is a defect from Honda design/manufacture, Honda does not want to fix it. I am sure there are a lot of 03/04 accords out there will have this problem soon or later.
Now I have no choice nut fix it by myself. I know many owner jump the R171 on the radio board. I am wondering how it goes after so many years of the fix. Has it been good since about 2005?

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Repaired mine in May of 2006, still working fine.

Thanks for the reply firstandlasthona (lol), I was wondering the same thing as Keith2010.

Looks like the jumping the solder is more than enough if its been 5 years for you. =]

Quote:

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Quoting Keith2010:
Thank mystified88 and Hypo for fixing information. I am the un-lucky one on this problem. I am the original owner of my 2003 Accord v6. The radio light went dim last weekend, after 7 years and 2 months, 150,000 miles. So I am out of the ext warranty. I called Honda USA and went to my local dealer. They would not standby their product. Although they know it is a defect from Honda design/manufacture, Honda does not want to fix it. I am sure there are a lot of 03/04 accords out there will have this problem soon or later.
Now I have no choice nut fix it by myself. I know many owner jump the R171 on the radio board. I am wondering how it goes after so many years of the fix. Has it been good since about 2005?
Repaired mine in May of 2006, still working fine.

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Thank you for the reply from firstandlasthona (lol). I have fixed it since July 2010. It has been working fine.

Hello,

I have the same problem with my 03-Accord EX with 72800 miles on it. Honda is refusing to cover it although this is a known manufacturing defect. I am all in to try and get the National Highway safety to force Honda to go for a recall on this issue instead of a extended warranty. Extended warranty is plain cheating. The defective part is a Printed Circuit Board and there is no wear and tear involved like other mileage related issues. The fact that even the hazard light goes off makes this a real safety issue.

I already have a complaint to the National Highway Traffic Safety authority on this one.

If you are in the same boat and would like to push for a Recall, please reference this complaint.

if there is a better way to push for this, please advice.

http://nhthqnwas700.nhtsa.dot.gov/complaints/results.cfm?odi_ids=10441056&SearchType=QuickSearc h&summary=true&refurl=email

There is a safety recall or a campaign on this,you should have got paper work from honda on this problem.the dealership will try to get out of it ,don't let them lie to you,I had this problem with my 03 with over 70,000 miles they did it for free, this is a problem just with the 03 accord,it is a chip in side the radio they have to replace,

I've been subscribed to this thread for 6 years now. I still enjoy getting the replies. Do you all realize the answer is *IN* this thread? This website is just so crappy its hard to find. My dad and I followed the instructions, removed the radio, found the bad resistor, soldered a wire bypassing it, and everything has worked fine for the last 6 years.

Display lights is a fuse inside the radio PC board, for the control lights is a cool salder You will need to redo the radio PC board

This LCD malfunction issue is because of a short in the motherboard.
I had the same problem and came across this company online that helped. (cd4car.com)
All I needed to do was replace the block component (that is the disc changer and radio mechanism as well as the motherboard that controls the unit)
Only cost me $200 instead of the $1200 honda was asking for a brand new unit.

I didn't really know anything about electronics but was able to do it myself with this video that the company I bought the block from sent me:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMrixd5nwcs&feature=player_embedded

be careful though, there are specific blocks for each unit. Luckily I called them up and they helped me match the block with my current unit.

You do not need to replace the Radio, but you need to replaced internally fuse in the Radio PC board

Here is a video of how I fixed mine. First step is to remove the radio, then follow the steps on the video. This fixed mine, so hopefully it will help you too. I am no expert however, so follow at your own risk.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPHDIJTFnic

Have a 2003 Accord EX-L with navi--same display problem just cropped up--though not as soon as some experienced it--does having navi complicate this repair or is it strictly a radio problem and navi is left out? Calling Honda tomorrow based on what I found in this forum (service bulletin on this problem issued by Honda) plus what a tech at our local Honda told us (Honda is well aware of this problem)--Hoping for a satisfactory outcome even if I am outside the 7 years extension given but am still within the mileage limitations--the car is now my brother in laws and he is not expecting much so am hoping he will be pleasantly surprised with a good answer from Honda tomorrow--Had this Honda serviced exclusively at this dealer for the time I had it and hope between that and good vibes from American Honda something can be done to repair this problem at little or no cost (good will)--Stay tuned!