[Fosteros]

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]

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]

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]

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.

[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:

---
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 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!

[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...

[snoopbert]

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?

[jpbenco]

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!

[pete12126]

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?

...

[vo_danh]

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)

[vo_danh]

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.

[smeeker]

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.