Hey my friend has a 5th Gen Lude, and all of his dash lights and cluster lights are out. We're talkin' A/C, Cluster, and whatever else is on the dash. So basicvally he cant see his gauges at night. He put in his aftermarket amp/subs/headunit, and now they dont work. Checked all the fuses, no answer there. Went to honda, They said they would send someone outside to take a look. I sat there for an hour, we got pissed and left. So now Im going to try and find hope here so he doesn't do somthing dumb like buy a new cluster. Oh and we checked the bulbs in the cluster and they are all a ok. Please help.

 

Thats not whats wrong with it... dont let him replace that... Its a brain... Theres a dimmer brain to his lights... I had the same thing happen... 3weeks of fighting it I finally fixed it through luck.... I wish I had a picture to show you what it is... Its a small box.. On the 5th gen I dont know where its located, but would assume its right behind the dash... Theres red and red/black wires that run all over the dash area on the 4th gen... I think they are the same on the 5 gen... Follow them to the little box where they all converge.. Then replace that... You blew it up somehow... I did too, dunno how either... I did everything you did and alot more even...Its a black box smaller than your fist(smaller than a womans fist even) that has slits to breathe from and one connector into it... Check the easiest thing to acces such as sunroof or wehatever and see if there are red and red/black wires running into the switch.. if so, then thats the wires you should follow to this box... You may have already seen it... I will see what I cna do tomorrow to see if I cna get you a pic of it...

 

Thanks. Ill tell him that so he doesnt go out and blow $700 for nothing. Oh so about how much is it for the box thingy?

 

i would ipperciate it if you could getme a pic. I told him so he restrned himself from buying a cluster. Thanks again! P.S. was it located behind the cluster or up under the sterring column.

 

Sorry man, but I havent had a chance to rip my dash apart yet... I should tomorrow morning and will take a pic then... Its form a 4th gen, so location is different, but I speculate appearance will be very similar... Maybe I will be able to find out fomr the local junkyard where it is and a pic of it by 5th gen... They wouldnt know what it was, but would sell it for 15-20 calling it a main relay, lol!!! Sorry about not getting back for so long.. Been really busy... Lets say I worked my *** off... Putting a wrangler together, painting the interiors of 2 house, getting a 84 mustang to run, and getting my system back in my car... Didnt have time to yank it out yet... Only reason I was even planning on it is because I am nice and I put one piece on slightly out of place and figured I would help out...

 

how did you put the aftermarket radio in? That could very well do it. If you tagged off the dimmer wire on accident for something, it could cause this fluke.

 

LOL... someone besides me knows whats going on here! Thats whats wrong.. He blew the dimmer relay... Thats what causes the whole thing o go... Either someone else has done it too(rjr162) or he has knowledge beyone my comprehension... I did it and figured out what it was... I spent the lats twennty minutes trying to get my dash out, but I cnat find any lil screwdrivers and its 81 out there right now! Ahhh! I guess I am gonna wait till tonight... sorry about the slow help, but I am kinda spending 30 minutes for no reason but to help out another guy...

 

In my 4th gen prelude, the ashtray light doesnt work anymore. it stopped working about 2 weeks ago. would that be the bulb?

 

YA... that would be it... Your cig lighter light still works right? Then yes.... I yanked out ashtray light... thought better of it...

 

yea my lighter light still works. its hard to ash in the tray in the dark. i always end up ashing on my shift boot or my equalizer which is right above the tray.

 

Well... I cna help you out here... QUIT PUFFING... drop the habit...

 

thanks for the tips iv been tryin to get him to pull his dash apart but hes a lazy @ss. but if you could get me a pick i might be able to cinvience that it worth it hes stubbern.so the pic would be great!!!!!!!!!!!

 

alright.... pic is coming tomorrow morning... I am ripping the whole thing apart... tired of the rattle I get fomrnot havign it on right... PLus, I gotta fix the A/C. Located elsewhere, but while I tearing it apart, why not? Dumb temp switch is messed up... I put it in wrong last time I ripped it apart... It wont go all the way right to the heat side, which was great b4 90 got here! Always warm to hot.... Now, I need to get it back right where I got cool cool again... A/C even is semi cool cause it wont go allt he way cold...

 

that sound great it will make him happy!!!!he told me yester day that he was going to buy indglow gaguages to fix the proplem, i didi'nt think that it would work but it might.P.S. I hope i''m not bugging you to much but thanks

 

http://icelord.net/honda/repai...r.pdf

Go here and find scroll to page 20.. It has a drawing of what it looks like... I ran into problems today and barely had time ot get my A/C fixed... That link shows it well.... Indiglo gauges wont relly solve the problem.... I have a friend who solved the problem that way though.... He hooked up a blue neon light to his gauge cluster.... You cant see the neon, but cna see evrything at night... It does wonders... coolest mod he has.... I will still see if I cna get a pic up tomorrow... Got a couple of other things to do though... Im happy I got cold air now, sorry about not helping you as much as you wnated... Its labeled the dash illumination dimmer control unit or something like that...Find a 5th gen manual and look for it... Will solve the problem..

 

thanks a bunch this really means alot i'm at school now im really board so im going to go to that site.

 

this school computer sucks dick so it won't let me go to the site because of parentle control so i'm going to chek it out at home. its pretty funny when we run at the track he has to trun on his dome light to see his gauges....lol thanks again

 

hey, i called honda and they said that the dimmer control unit is located under the steering column(fuses) and its to the left or centered with the sterring column. they are still a bunch of asses.they told me to look into a dimmer switch. but i think there just idiots and they don't understand my problem but now that i know where the dimmer control UNIT is i can solve his problem hopefuly. that web site really did help. where are you located just askin because you acted like you really need a/c thuoght it was cooler up in the northern parts.... im in FL really hot!!!!!!

 

A/C is fixed man... thanx anyways... Im in GA... not too much cooler here...! I went to the junkyard today and wished I had my camera with me... Saw a bunch of them on 4th gens clear as day... Looked at thwe 5 gens kinda... didnt see them... figured they were at control/fuse box because of where the wires led... Only 5 gens they had were wrecked pretty good.. If i had pants on I woulda gotten in... 3 were easily accesible, but the glass all over... I will check later today and am gonig to see if I cna get apic of one for you... Maybe not... Just go check a honda junkyard... They tend to know where certain parts are located...
Well... you might just need a dimmer switch... Not likely though... make sure oyu get one off a junkyard... its cheaper and you can get both just in case.... Most often the switch wont burn up as fast as the control unit does when oyu do something like that... My radio fuse blows everytime I ground my radio on my car, so anything is possible...

 

thats cool take your time no rush here. i called im today we going to visit a junlyard this week. i got a buddy with a probe that knows a guy that owns a junkyard so i can get free or cheap parts. i think i'll take you advice and grab both just in case thanks for all your help

 

I am assuming that you cna find it by locating wires that look like that. Theres alot fo them and this is from a 4th gn so they may not be identical, but i bet they are similar at least.

 

thanks alot were going to look at some junk yards today but i don't know if hes still up to it ill show him these pics to see he reconizes them the wires i mean. hopefully this will solve the problem it should i'm at school again teachers lecturing us this is the most boring ever. what do you run in the 1/4.

 

i havent ran it yet, but not too fast... im not running much...

 

you should run it see hoe much you improve wiyh each mod. do you have v-tech because i know that alot of fourth gens didnt have it

 

nope man... I hope to put one in about a year or so... Either that or turbo...