Rep Power: 0

I recently installed a new head unit on my 2001 honda civic lx 4door. Everything was running smooth all day, but when I went to head home in the dark, i turned my head lights on and the dash(speedometer, gas gauge, tach.) did not light up, then some crackling and smoke, so i shut it off.

head lights work now when turned on, but my turn signals stay on, but still blink when used. and no backlight to gauges.
No fuses were blown, and the wiring on the head unit has nothing to do with the other electric parts of the car.

idk if it is the head light switch or not, please help me out, sucks not driving at night. thanks

 
Rep Power: 199

Sounds like when you wired the head unit, you also connected the dimmer light wire. You're not supposed to do that because it can fry your cluster.

 
Rep Power: 512

I'm thinking the same thing

 
Rep Power: 191

I've installed about a dozen head units in as many different cars, and I've always connected the dimmer wire, and not encountered an issue... is it a common problem? I like being able to have the HU's dim when the lights are on

 
Rep Power: 235

Where was the smoke coming from? Was it coming from the steering column?

 
Rep Power: 812

you can connect the illumination wire then if youre careful to match it up correctly. dimmer wire is not used on these cars. some people do not know how to figure it out, so we say its best not to hook any of them up at the risk of frying the entire dash light circuit which involves replacing the gauge cluster and possibly the dash light bulbs.

 
Rep Power: 308

I certainly can be done. You never know WHAT people have done beforehand (tied all illumination together, ground this grounded that wire ends from harness left exposed, etc...)

The 2 wires in the factory cluster are RED/BLK and it is right off the contacts of the taillight relay (+12 volts when parking or headlights are on) The other lead is RED lead, It is the dimmable line that can cause huge headaches when wired incorrectly.

 
Rep Power: 0

so this EXACT same thing happened to me about a week ago. i have an 2001 LX coupe and when i turned the lights on, it took a second or 2 then smoke from the steering colume area. I checked all fuses and the only 1 that was blown was the ACC Cigar, replaced it, didnt fix anything.

What exactly did i fry (educated guess) the circuit board? the bulbs that light up the 4 gauges? To the point, how do i fix this without spending money on a entire new cluster. (seeing as the lights for the guages are the only thing that does not light up.

 
Rep Power: 308

If you are lucky enough and want to tackle it... some have reported being able to repair the damaged copper PCB trace on the cluster and get them going again by soldering in a jumper across open trace.

Take your illumination connections loose and isolate them 1st though.

 
Rep Power: 235

^^ Only for the VERY steady of hands. Been there done that. lol

 
Rep Power: 308

I had no problems with my 05, not sure what people are doing to cause the damage.

I tied my Pioneers dimmer lead into the dash lights just fine and used the red/blk to dim my Toyota salvaged vacuum fluorescent clock with no problems.