you know there is a fuse box on the passenger side to right? open the pass door and pull off the cover on the dash. look for fuse 10 - is it blown?

if it's not, we can do some voltage tests if your up for it. i suspect a bad driver side multiplex if the fuse is ok though

 

I've checked the fuses on the driver's side, passenger side, and under the hood. All good.

I'm up for voltage tests...
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do the vanity mirror lights work? (the mirror lights in the visors)

if so, does the glove box light work with the headlights on?

oooooo....this looks like it's going to get interesting, hurry and respond because call of duty 4 is calling me...

 

Yes, the mirror lights in the visors work (only with the headlights on) and the glovebox light works with the headlights on. [/align]

 

checking those lights verified you had power on fuse 10 and the combo switch is good.

it's still possible the dash dimmer controller went bad. it's also possible the drivers multiplex is bad. lets start with testing the dimmer in the gauge. look at this post and remove the gauge assembly:
https://www.hondaaccordforum.com/int...m_99755/tm.htm

set your meter to the ohm checker and measure resistance of the dimmer circuit while turning the dimmer:



if it's out of spec head to the dealer. you might be able to replace it separate - i'm not sure. you might need a new gauge assembly to fix it.
if it's in spec, check this:



if you remove the clock, headlights on, turn the key on engine off and check for battery voltage on the red/black wire you know the circuit is good. if you reconnect it and measure voltage on the red wire(back probe it) and you find battery voltage you know the bulb is good and you have no ground. the red wire goes directly to the drivers multiplex now and the drivers multiplex supplies ground.

 

Wow, great! I appreciate the detailed info. Being new at dismembering... I mean disassembling my dash and electronics, there are a few questions...

- Should I detatch the negative lead on the battery before doing this?
- After disconnecting the 22P connector, I measure resistance across B4 and B5. This is probably a really ignorant question, but does it matter which lead of my ohm meter (pos/neg) I put in which hole. Last thing I want to do is deep fry my dash.
- I should check the clock after I check the dimmer?

Thanks for all the help. I will try to look at this in the morning, otherwise it will be next weekend as my time is booked until then and I will have limited access to a suitable facility for doing this work.
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yeah, check the clock after you check the dimmer. to me it's easier to do and checking the clock simply verifies you have power at the bulb and what happens after the bulb.

you don't have to worry about disconnecting the negative battery cable for gauge dimmer inspection.

for resistance checking the test lead polarity doesn't matter.



if the dimmer is testing good and you find battery voltage when you backprobe the red wire this is going to get fun, heh.

note:that picture of the gauge is pointing at the connector - but just incase you are unsure you are going to be hooking your meter up the corrisponding terminals on the gauge assembly, not the terminals in the connector.

 

Ok, well... that was an adventure. I could have a whole rant on how cars are put together, but I'll save that for another thread.

I got the instrument cluster out and checked the dimmer. The resistance goes from 0 to 19.5 or so. I checked the voltage at the clock with the lights on and it's 11.5 (0 when off).

So here's where I guess it gets interesting.

Thanks again for the help.


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your testing confirmed the gauge dimmer is ok.

you had 11.5 volts on the red wire with the clock still connected?


if so, you have no ground. most likely the driver side multiplex is shot. if you take a piece of wire and ground one end of it, then back probe the red wire in the clock connector with the head lights on and all the dash lights and everything magically illuminate you confirmed there is no ground. i'm 99% sure the wiring is ok since there are 3 different wires heading the fuse box to ground all those lights. there is a possibility the driver side fuse box itself is bad, but much less than the multiplex which is known to have a defect in the light grounding circuit on 2000 accord v6. let us know what you come up with!

 

Sorry, I probably didn't explain that well. When I tested the clock, I unplugged the connector from the clock and stuck the black probe into the jack for the black wire and then checked the two red wires by inserting the red probe into each one individually (red/white and red/black I think). Both produced the same results (11.5) with the lights on.

By back probing, did you mean for me to leave the connector plugged into the clock and then insert the probes into the connector from the back? Now that I'm typing this, that seems to make the most sense. So, would I backprobe the black wire with the black probe and then backprobe one of the red wires the same way? BTW, does it matter which red wire I check?

Thanks.


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