How to fix your 2003 accords backlighting for free

 Fixing the display of Your 2003 Honda Accord for Free 
 

Honda wants to charge you for the entire replacement of your radio which is around $800.00 personally I would rather spend a couples hours and do it myself! 

 


The first thing that needs to take place is the Removal of the Stereo

-Start by removing the Trim around the shifter. If you have heated seats then you need to disconnect them for convenience. Be careful when prying any snap on parts as they can break easily, also the metal clips on the tabs holding it together can fall off and are hard to find once they fall into the abyss.
Pry with fingers avoid using hard objects to pry as they will scratch the material.






















Remove Screws






-Pry off the tray part. There are two screws under that. You can do this with your fingers if not be careful not to scratch.  Now the Coin tray and the Cigarette lighter will come off.

 

There are two screws that hold down the lower compartment.  Loosen the bottom side of the compartment. Close the compartment door and loosen the top so that it can be removed. You will have to put your car in drive 1 to remove this.


 


-There are two screws underneath Stereo, remove these.


 


-Now pry off the top center Dash. (Carefully use a flat head and pry closest to the upper part of the stereo).  There are only 4 plastic tab-locking things that hold the top Center Dash. It is very easy to damage the area of contact so be sure that the flathead driver has a long but thin tip. I used a miniature screwdriver not the one seen in the picture. I considered this the most difficult step of the removal.That will expose the three screws that hold the upper part of the stereo.

 

 

-Disconnect all the cables and the factory stereo. There are pop tabs on the stereo as well. A pair of needle nose pliers was used to loosen the tabs holding the harness making them easier to disconnect.

Remove these screws on both sides

 
NOW TO DEAL WITH THE RESISTOR THAT BURNED UP


Remove the (2) screws on the back of the radio

 
 

Remove the (8) screws that hold the heat sink together.


 


Flip the radio to its front side, and remove the (2) screws.


 


You will need to remove several more screws holding the bottom together. I believe there are 4 screws. Then you can pry off with a screw driver.

Now that you have the heat sink and the bottom plate off, BE VERY CAREFULL WITH THE NEXT STEP.  Remove the ribbon cable from the board. BE CAREFULL WHEN YOU REMOVE IT. Don’t pull hard or you can damage the RIBBON. You can remove the ribbon leaving the plastic connecter on the circuit board. Removing the plastic instead of the ribbon makes this process extremely hard.


 


Now look at the radio where the heat sink normally is. You will see set of (3) resisters next to each other. Pay close attention to the middle resister with the number R797. That’s the one you need to fix.
DO THIS AT YOURE OWN RISK.

It was suggested to use wire snips to remove this resistor. I found it easier to melt the front side of the resistor with a soldering gun and then grab it with needle nose pliers and pull it off. It was also suggested to add a jumper wire and solder but most soldering guns are too big to do this. It was easier to apply a small bead of solder to connect the contacts. This is rather difficult so you may need someone experienced with soldering. Here is a picture of how it looks after I jump the connection.

Now put everything back together, and install the stock radio to your car.

Enjoy your now working stock radio.... This easy tutorial will save you $$$$.

 This tutorial was put together with the help of two websites.  One was an Accord Forum and the other was Eric’s Blog