clams

Hello,

We bought a 2001 Honda Civic last week and the guy said the bulbs were out on the instrument cluster. After checking the fuses, pulling out the instrument cluster, checking the PCB (see pics) I determined it wasn't bulbs, but rather the board.
I know this is due to the aftermarket stereo he installed. I'm planning on soldering the PCB or if there is an easier dimmer switch bypass (i would prefer this since i will have to buy a soldering iron) please suggest it!

Also, as you can see in the pic, the orange/white and orange are connected together, is this what shorted the PCB? I found that odd that they were connected together.. on the back of the connector it is the red/blk / red wires. Should I disconnect this crimp and then crimp off each individual orange/white and orange wire?

Thank you for your help, im hoping to save myself a few hundred bucks by doing this on my own.

lazlong

I don't know about the wires but, that board looks fried. You need a new gauge cluster. You can find a salvage one here for about $50: http://www.car-part.com/

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

i bet you also need new dash pieces too, if new bulbs do not fix it. all your dash lights are out right? or just the gauges. it happens when you connect the dimmer and/or illumination wires wrong when installing the deck. usually they are not even used anyway. and if the deck supports dimming, you can still do it manually.

clams

I'm pretty sure the bulbs are fine.
I read that the orange wire is the 12V+ Park light wire and the orange/white is the (-)dimmer wire short them together and you will burn out the illumination switch and you will need a new cluster.

I separated these wires this afternoon and capped them off. Hopefully when I hook up my new cluster everything will be fine.

The previous owner obviously put these two wires together causing this short.

clams

Does anybody have any feedback about the harness wiring? I ordered a cluster and am going to install it soon. I'm hoping that I've corrected the issue and when I install this one, everything goes smooth..

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

just make sure the dimmer and illumination wires are not connected to anything on either harness.

CraigW

iTrader: (1)

And isolated if possible.