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HI all heres the problem any input advice possible solutions will be greatly appreciated. I have a 2002 Honda civic EX coupe it is my first civic had it almost a year. Now to the problem I just put in a new VR3 cd player so I could hook up my IPod I removed the factory radio. When I hooked everything up turned the car on hit the headlights to test the dimmer switch all the dash illumination lights went out and I could smell hot wire. I read on here some other threads that you are suppose to unhook the ground cable from the battery when changing CD players to avoid causing a short in the dimmer switch. And when I was installing the radio I failed to unhook the ground cable from the battery stupid I know, but like I said this is my first honda before this I had a 96 Ford F-150 I put an aftermarket radio in did not unhook the battery and everything turned out fine life was good. So far all the guages work the turn signal lights work, the parking brake light comes on the high beam light works. The other illumination light that is still functioning is the odometer light and the dimmer switch functions with it goes dimmer then britter. But no illumination lights any were else speedometer, tach, fuel, temp, guages still function, and no lights for AC, defrost etc. So when this happened I pulled the radio back out and isolated the illumation/dimmer wire on the radio harness, checked all the fuses no blown, just changed the multi function headlight dimmer switch no changes, even pulled out the instrument panel and looked at all the bulbs they all seem ok. The radio still lights up and everything else functions fine I have no idea.

 
Rep Power: 811

you hooked up the dimmer wire incorrectly and blew the lighting circuit which is not fuse protected. this is why everyone here recommends NOT installing the dimmer or illumination wires when installing a stereo. but now that it happened, you need to find another gauge cluster and swap out the dimmer **** assembly. hopefully you know how to take the gauges apart and have soldering skills. otherwise just swap out the whole cluster, but you need to find one with near the same mileage as your car. check ebay.

 
Rep Power: 0

I installed an after market stereo and it has damaged the instument panel lights. I unknowingly hooked up the orange/white wires. From my research it seems the connector on the back of the instrument panel can be jumpered to make the lights works. The connectors are different from everything I can find on YouTube. I have a green and a blue connector on the back of the panel. All help is appreciated. Also should I disconnect the orange/white wires on the back of the stereo?

 
Rep Power: 307

On 7th gens it can get hot enough to open and lift the printed circuit traces on the board for the cluster.

You WILL want to take those connection you made loose.

 
Rep Power: 0

2008 civic dx coupe 1.8 upper digital gauge cluster not lighting up but turn signals work, is that a bad cluster and how can i test it ?
is there a fuse i'm not seeing? please help soon .......


dp

 
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Yeah I did same mistake like 6 years ago and it didnt go well