My daughter took her 2003 Honda Accord EX V6 in for a smog test and it failed. The technician said the check engine light was not working. He knew this because the CEL does not come on for a few seconds when turning on the ignition. He also found three codes, which should have lighted the CEL.
I have verified that the lamp does not come on momentarily at position one of the key ignition. I called a Honda dealership parts department about a CEL lamp and was told the entire instrument cluster will need to be replaced if the lamp is indeed burnt out. I'm not interested in paying $450 for the panel. I do some work on my cars and am interested to know if their is another reason why the CEL lamp is not lighting.
By-the-way, the codes the smog technician found are: P0134, P2243 and P2251.

 

Do you know the history of the car? Just wondering if somebody might have tampered with the led for the CEL. What does the ABS light do when the key is turned to on?

As for the codes....I'm sure you already know but something is up with the O2 circuit (bank 1, sensor 1).

 

Yeah there may be no power going to it. Since you work on cars,did you bother checking anything before making this thread? If so,what?

 

I don't know the history of the car. I can tell that someone had removed the instrument cluster before. I would like to test for power to the LED, but don't know the wire colors.

 

The ABS light comes on along with all other light, except of course the CEL light.

 

Used cluster goes for about $70. Like Christmas lights, it may be "better" to replace the cluster rather than figuring out why or why not.

 

Don't forget....these do have a "self test" for the gauge unit. Not sure what it will show but can't hurt.

Also, if you are going to keep the car for some time - I'd get a service manual for it. Places like automanualsource"dot"com offer a pretty good product. You can get a download (hope you have a good internet) for $22 or a CD shipped for $27.

 

I bought a one-day subscription to Honda Service Express and learned about the gauge control module self test and the input test. I'll try these tests next and see what I get.

Thanks

 

Very good. Let me know how it goes and I'll add what I can from there.....