may sound sort of stupid,but have a 98 accord ex,pulled out factory and slapped a new alpine in,wiring harness,and sheets from crutchfield.
went smooth,back together easy,took it for a drive to test the speakers,and noticed the instrument panel was not on.
took it back apart,had 2 illuminaton wires,solid for main illumination,orange and white,for dimmer
switched them up,still no lights,checked the fuses,none blown,called crutchfield,guy at tech support,said to check the accesory fuse,same panel,not blown,and didnt know what else to try?
so hopefully anyone who's ever ran into this help a guy out please,what am i missing?
thanks alot,merry xmas!!

 

and just in case instrument panel was working,dials etc,just not lit up,or the climate control lights,and yes the dimmer **** has been checked!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by stoneyb245 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">and just in case instrument panel was working,dials etc,just not lit up,or the climate control lights,and yes the dimmer **** has been checked!</TD></TR></TABLE>

Did you have to cut apart the harness or was it connectors? I bet there is a short some where is the wires going to the cluster. It is just a coincident.

 

Something similar happened with my moms car. I installed her new CD player and then boom now the rear running lights and Climate control lights dont work. 02 Matrix. I did not even have to cut apart the harness it was just plugs. Dealership found a short. Warranty.

 

no,i got a wiring harness from crutchfield,was pretty standard,nothing else is not working,all lights,stops ,hazards,interior,i didnt have to cut anything,just taped em all together, they all light up at first the check engines and srs and etc,all the dash cluster lights,just not the lights when you turn on the headlights!,hell the odometer even works,dunno,been lookin around on the net,and just curious now

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by stoneyb245 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">no,i got a wiring harness from crutchfield,was pretty standard,nothing else is not working,all lights,stops ,hazards,interior,i didnt have to cut anything,just taped em all together, they all light up at first the check engines and srs and etc,all the dash cluster lights,just not the lights when you turn on the headlights!,hell the odometer even works,dunno,been lookin around on the net,and just curious now</TD></TR></TABLE>

Your confusing me. Make your post a little more understandable.

 

sorry ninjasword,i'm confused to but i'll try it again
the lights in my dashboard arent lighting up,they were prior to stereo swap.
when i first turn the key on,all the check engine lights,srs,oil light all light up,like normal.digital odometer is working.

i turn on headlights,and none of the lights in the background of the dashboard cluster are illuminated.

i can turn on my turn signals and they flash in the darkness like normal,just like if i hit my high beams,the blue indicator lights up.

the only thing not working is the background of the speedometer and rpm guage that lights up at night,with headlights turned on.

i believe its got to do with the illumination lead,it said from alpine manual
" to the instrument cluster illumination lead"
its a orange wire,and i have tried putting it on the orange from the honda wiring harness they gave me.

per the master sheet for the 98 accord,one is "orange -illumination",2nd is "orange/white-dimmer" tried both and left them both off,per the crutchfield tech.

still no dash lights with headlights on .

hope this helps,i figured alot of people have put aftermarkets in,and i've done a few but never ran into this,coz they're are no blown fuse or anything.

thanks again for any help,and apologize for the uncertain posts!

 

Step one Disconnect stereo, completely.


Step two, disconnect the battery and reset the ECU.

If no fuses are blown your lights should come back on. This is what I would do.

 

awesome,after takin it in and out 3 times i've got it mastered,haha,i never did disconnect the battery,i like that idea,and by resetting the ecu,you mean the fuse on the right side of the car,"backup light fuse " or something like that right?

many thanks,will try this tomorrow morning,thanks for all your help, if it works,i'll post it again,in case someone else ever has this problem.

 

When you disconnect the battery it will reset the ECU. So just disconnect the battery wait a minute the reconnect it. See if that helps.