[tgardner]

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?

[labman]

Could be a bad connection. Likely you will have to pull the panel off. Usually that is easy once you find the trick. It is a matter of finding an out of sight screw or 2 and then pulling the right place. I don't know the trick, and you may have to buy a manual to find out. I think the expensive factory shop manuals are much better then the books from the auto parts store.

[papahurls]

I have experienced the same problem. $300 and two weeks to send the unit out for repair. $700 for dealer to install new one. E-bay has a few used ones but they don't last long. I paid a little over $100 and got a piece of junk. It's going back tomorrow. There is a service bulletin on it, but I have not been fortunate enough to find someone willing to give me a copy of it.

[jkp]

We have the same issue. Car is barely 2 years old and Radio light does not work. I called Honda and they have opened up an Incident report to see if they can offer anything. As all ways it's not a recalled. Also there is no way to find out how to fix it without major expense. :confused:

[papahurls]

My local dealer was willing to repair the unit (out of warranty) for about $400.00. They were going to ship it out to a repair shop that turned out to be someone I'll mention later.
I then purchased an EX radio from bronco_buddy on Ebay for $185.00 plus $15.00 shipping (he knows their value). He generally has a unit up for sale on a regular basis. They are coming from wrecked cars.
I checked tonight and there was not one unit for sale. Some joker is trying to pass off a face plate as a dim light solution. Stay away from that one.
I then was able to download instructions on how to remove the old unit. It took me about 90 minutes.
In fooling around with this nightmare, I discovered that the part that is bad, is inside the head of the unit, not the face plate. It is some kind of transformer.
Make sure that if you buy a unit, that it is the exact one for your series (EX, LX, DX), it really makes a difference. A local radio repair thief wanted $286 to repair my old unit and they hadn't even diagnosed the problem.
If you have any other questions, drop me another note. I hope this helps!
Pat in Cleveland

Here were the directions that I used:

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/561772/3

[mickey1214]

I feel lucky to have found this message thread a few weeks ago. I had this same problem with my 2003 Honda Accord EX and thought it odd that it wasn't just a blown fuse. In this instance, I was fortunate to have purchased an extended warranty from the dealership. Consequently, they kept me somewhat shielded from the specifics of the problem fix. It was not easy, though. After about 30-minutes of diagnosis I was told that the problem was with the radio (hard to believe that the radio can cause backlighting problems, but, oh well... ). The dealership was simply going to take the radio out of the Accord, send it to get fixed, and call me when it returned (the idea was to keep me in possession of my car while the radio was being fixed offsite). About an hour later, the service technician told me that things had unexpectedly "snowballed" and that by removing the radio the Accord's defrost function was unable to operate. He then went on to explain to me that the dealership could not release the car with inoperable defrost ventilation. Next stop, Enterprise Car Rental. From what I then understand the dealership spent the next three days trying to repair the radio. On the forth day, the dealership called to tell me that they had fixed the problem. When I arrived at the dealership, I learned that "fixing" the problem was achieved by installing a new radio. The service technician told me that he could go into the specifics of my problem if I wished, but that, with the new radio solution, it would most likely be a waste of time to explain. In hindsight (about 18-hours of hindsight), I would have liked an explanation. At the time, however, I was just glad to ditch the rental and get my car back. And everything works fine...

[dmmastro]

I also have this problem. Has anyone had the dealer replace their radio without cost using the extended warranty? Or otherwise? Thanks.

[thejuice_24]

Has anymore heard any updates on a possible recall?? I have a 2003 Honda Accord EX with the same issue.

[dmmastro]

I'm taking my car in on Friday. I'll let you know what they have to say.
Dm

[madtpkr]

I'm experiencing the same issue... no lights in the radio display... also no lights in the AC button wording. The green light that says if the A/C is on Auto works, but at night, you can't see what any of the buttons are since you can't see the actual word "Auto". It's also really dark in the car at night now :-(

I've barely had the car for 2 years. Bad luck? Or do they need to recall this thing?

[dmmastro]

Dealer said not covered under extended warranty. About $300 canadian to fix faceplate (needs to be shipped out... which means I have to leave the car for 3-4 days.) About $1000 for new faceplate. I'm not happy. Why buy a new faceplate that is going to burn out again in 2 years? I'm going to write honda canada.

Dm

[HonCordEx2003]

I own a 2003 Accord with a 6 cd indash radio. I had to get my radio replaced by the dealer due to a CD getting stuck, this was under warranty. I didn't have the problems mentioned in this forum probably because after that I installed an aftermarket radio. After reading how much people have to pay and dedicate time to get this fixed, I'll say that I took out my stock radio and spent less than $200 buying an installation kit which includes the climate control buttons, nobs and slot to fit the new radio. Installed a $400 (Sony CDX-M9905X) with no problem or interference with other stock components. Obviously it can be any radio of lower ot higher price. The point is in the event this is a common "glitch" among these radios, this might be a solution.
Below is a link with an image of the installation kit.

http://www.installer.com/photos/99-7864.jpg

[MChensky]

I just purchased my 2003 Honda Accord EX it has 24K miles on it, and I've owned it for 2 days, and then the display on the CD pad goes out.. I can barely read this display, I still have audio sound.. I believe I'm still covered under the orig warranty. Has anybody taken it to Honda and have it covered under the orig warranty? [email protected]

Any response would be greatly appreciated!

[baskaran]

Just this morning as got in my car, I noticed that the radio/CD/clock display is dead. The radio works. It looks like the LCD backlight is dead. The lights behind the climate control buttons are fine.

I still have close to year/11000 miles of my 3 year / 36000 miles warranty left. This problem is covered by the warranty, I assume. Has anyone had difficulty getting this fixed under this warranty?

Thanks,

Baskaran

[rkbrunner]

Same Issue 2003 EX. Out of warranty and the radio went out. I thought it came on for a time but no luck. What is the going price now for a new radio installed? Is there another option? Thanks for the tip at least I'll save a step and not try screwing around with the wiring.

[h0nd4-0wner]

I'm having the same problem with my 03 Accord. I went to fill up with gas last Thursday (10/27) night and noticed it was very dark in the car. The center console display was dark. By shining a flashlight on the display, I could tell the LCD portion was working just fine. But there was no backlight. I checked the fuses, tried tapping the display, etc, but it wouldn't light up.

The next morning as I was driving in to work, the display suddenly came back on. I figure the vibration from the road I was driving on caused something to temporarily fuse back together providing power to the backlight. After arriving at work I turned the car off, then back on... the display was out again and has not come back on since.

I had an appointment with my dealership for the 75K mile service Monday (10/31) morning and showed them the problem with the display. The dealership told me that the entire radio would need to be replaced. I don't have an extended warranty, and with close to 75K miles on the car, I was bracing for the bad news. My service advisor told me that the radio would normally cost around $400 plus $79 for labor to replace. However, they are only going to charge me for the labor. I suppose they are picking up the cost of the radio for "goodwill" since I've had the car serviced exclusively by them.

Anyway, the "new" radio is on order and my service advisor is supposed to call me when it arrives so I can have it installed. We'll see what happens...

[gkelley]

I also have a 2003 Accord and the radio and climate control lights have went out, seems like Honda has a problem they should own up to and have a recall! I bought the car new and planned on driving it till the wheels fell off, the only problem is it looks like the rest of the car is a piece of crap. My moon roof will open but will not close, I have to use the hand crank, as I mentioned my radio and air con. Lights have went out, no bad fuse anywhere I can find. I will buy American Union Made autos from now on, at least my money will help support the US economy.

[pb39374]

My light went out in my dash this past summer. I brought it to my local dealer and they replaced the radio free of charge without any questions asked. They said it is a common problem with this model and should be covered by warranty since it is a "defect". The only way to fix it is to replace the entire unit with a new one. Of course, the first time they ordered the radio they ordered the radio for the 4 door model (I HAVE A 2 DOOR). But they ordered the correct radio and I had it resolved with-in a week.

[snoopy7477]

My 2003 Honda Accord EX Stereo backlight ALSO went out as well as the illumination for the center console. The stereo and all functions still work. I know this is a reoccuring problem

My question is:::: WHAT EXACT PART IN THE FACEPLATE or RADIO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS AND WHERE IS IT?? If anyone can tell me the exact location or what the part is and what it looks like, I can replace it myself! Or if anyone has the schematics for the unit, that would help too!!

I have done lots of research online for this... found instructions to take the radio out... Someone says it is a transformer in the head of the unit... someone else says it is in the faceplate. I even found out what color wires power up the illumination from the harness(red and black). But I cannot find what the exact problem is!! I am negligant to paying hundreds to have the whole unit replaced. If anyone can help me with my question... please let me know and I am sure it will help others looking in this thread as well

[pb39374]

Did you check with your local dealer to see if they will do it under warranty? They should. It is a defect in the radio. There is no reason we (the consumer) should pay for it. My car is a lease. Is yours? Maybe they would only cover a leased vehicle?