[dgainer1]

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 maintenance 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

[TBrown]

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.

[GurlRacerWRX]

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.:confused: :confused: They have great customer service every time 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.

[donks13]

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

[hypo]

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 [email protected]

Thank you!

[mystified88]

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 stirring anyone wrong here! This is a very small part though, so be careful 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!

[hypo]

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.

[mystified88]

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!

[hypo]

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!

[hypo]

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!

[mystified88]

Well, I am glad to hear it all came together!! I'll tell you, it made my brother happy that I had fixed his! If Honda can do the work... good for them, but I've heard mention that it can take up to 6 weeks to get it fixed. I cannot do without climate control in the winter! Anyway, I'm glad I didn't steer you wrong here! Got to have those lights! How can one tell what station they are on and such? Thanks for the beer... CHEERS!

[dgainer1]

Before I had my radio repaired I could have sworn the LED lighting was a neon green color. Now the light is white. Am I crazy, or does anyone else have geen backlighting?

[hypo]

No, it always was white, and the other push buttons are backlit orange. How would green match the gauge cluster? ;)

BTW- Honda doesn't repair these, they simply replace them and (I imagine) throw the old ones away. The company that made them probably had to build all the new ones for free anyway.

[dgainer1]

Thanks Hypo, It just looked weird to me, probably from driving without the backlighting for over a month. At this point I don't care what color the light is as long as it works! It was just one of those things that makes you go hmm!

[shoopdj]

FYI, I had the same problem on my '03 EX and the radio was replaced under warrantee. This problem must be costing Honda a fortune, but they replaced everything-no charge! The dude that said Honda was making a profit on a bad design has his wires crossed - they are eating this problem whole. The lights, BTW, are neon green on both the original and replacement radio.

Note to gkelley : Honda Accords are made in the USA by union labor. Could be part of the problem, In my opinion.

[dgainer1]

I thought I was losing my mind, now here is another person who says the lights ARE supposed to be neon green. I prefer to have the neon green, was much more aesthetic to me.

[hypo]

Lol, no the lights are indeed orange and white. Google image search for honda dashes and you won't find any green ones. Believe me, I own one, and have seen other accord dashes from different years 03-05, all were the same color. Now I don't know about non-US cars, maybe they do it differently in europe or japan.

[dgainer1]

I don't thinks so.. even the backlighting for my controls is green, not orange as you say.

[hypo]

Really? Hmm, are we talking about the same dash unit? I'm referring to the auto dual climate AC with in dash 6 cd changer. Are your gauge clusters also green? What model accord do you have?

[dgainer1]

Yes my gauge clusters are also green. I have the 6 disc CD changer in a 2003 Honda Accord EX.