Earlier this week I ordered some cheap LED flux lights to replace my stock reverse lights.
The lights i bought
A few days later I re-checked to see if they were still lighting up and they weren't. I put my stock bulbs back in and they didn't light up either. (I tried inserting both ways, I know they're polarized.)
The next morning on my way to work, going 80 on the freeway, I suddenly noticed all the gauges on my dashboard were dead. Speedometer, tachometer, odomoter, fuel, oil, every single gauge was dead. I restarted the car (while still moving) and no luck, still dead. The dashboard backlight still lit up when I turned on the headlights though.
My first assumption was that the shitty LEDs I bought blew a fuse and that fuse happened to also control the dashboard gauges, so I checked the fuse box under the hood and the 10A backup light fuse was still good. I couldn't find any fuse for the dashboard. I checked the fusebox under the steerling column and didn't see anything dash related there either.
Does anyone have any ideas what killed my backup lights and dashboard gauges and any suggestions on what to do? I haven't done anything to my car recently except install a bunch of LEDs and they all work except the backup lights.
The lights i bought
A few days later I re-checked to see if they were still lighting up and they weren't. I put my stock bulbs back in and they didn't light up either. (I tried inserting both ways, I know they're polarized.)
The next morning on my way to work, going 80 on the freeway, I suddenly noticed all the gauges on my dashboard were dead. Speedometer, tachometer, odomoter, fuel, oil, every single gauge was dead. I restarted the car (while still moving) and no luck, still dead. The dashboard backlight still lit up when I turned on the headlights though.
My first assumption was that the shitty LEDs I bought blew a fuse and that fuse happened to also control the dashboard gauges, so I checked the fuse box under the hood and the 10A backup light fuse was still good. I couldn't find any fuse for the dashboard. I checked the fusebox under the steerling column and didn't see anything dash related there either.
Does anyone have any ideas what killed my backup lights and dashboard gauges and any suggestions on what to do? I haven't done anything to my car recently except install a bunch of LEDs and they all work except the backup lights.
If you have a manual trans you need to check the backup light switch. If auto trans you need to check the transmission range switch.
Thanks. Don't know what the backup light switch is but I'll research and try that out.
When I put the key in the ignition, there is normally some beeps and a picture of a key that lights up on the dashboard. My car still does this, but I found that when I remove the backup light fuse, it doesn't do it. So I think the dashboard and the backup lights are definitely linked somehow and that the LED light is the cause of all of this.
Who knew a little LED light could wreak so much havoc?
When I put the key in the ignition, there is normally some beeps and a picture of a key that lights up on the dashboard. My car still does this, but I found that when I remove the backup light fuse, it doesn't do it. So I think the dashboard and the backup lights are definitely linked somehow and that the LED light is the cause of all of this.
Who knew a little LED light could wreak so much havoc?
I have a manual transmission, do you know where the backup switch is on a 04 civic?
It's a 3P connector on the tranny. This should help: 
