Diagnosing a dash short
 

Aside from my beloved runner, I also have a CRV but the same principle applies here.

So I was changing out the bulbs in the climate control knobs with LEDs. One of them wasn't lighting up after testing them so I decided to take a square drive bit (since that's the base of the bulb) and turn it right or left to try to seat the contact surfaces better. I didn't even think of the fact that it would...and did...short the circuit as I saw a little spark. The climate lights all shut off, as did the dash cluster lights.

So when the headlights are off, The radio backlight and "P" indicator is still on. Once I switch on parking lights or headlights, those turn dark. The push button lights for A/C and Inside Air still illuminate, but not the backlighting bulb.

My first thought was pull the fuse to check. Based on the fuse diagram inside the cabin, I thought that "ACC Radio" in slot 8 was the ticket. a 7.5 amp fuse. Pulled it and tested with the ohmmeter,. Checked out fine.

So now I'm panicking. I need to see my dash at night when driving!!

I posted to my Honda CRV forums too but y'all are much faster and helpful if I'm being honest. And electrical connections are based on the same logic regardless of car, so what should I do?

check all other fuses, could be the inside fuse marked tail. or dome fuse in engine.

Ok I'll check the engine fuses today. I assumed the internal fuses. Sure was dicey driving this morning in the dark

I check all internal fuses, all checked out. I checked all engine bay fuses that made sense to check (there weren't many: interior lights and one other) The rest were horn, power windows, defroster, etc.

Nothing looks fried on the back of the cluster either.

check your dimmer knob, swap it out with another one if you can find the right fuse. you sure your fuses are good?

all fuses are good, pertinent relays are good. dimmer knob was checked and it doesn't change anything. Is there anything else to test before i go out buying parts? The weird thing for me is the cluster, climate, and radio are all not working with the headlights on. Yet one of the blinker lights semi-illuminates with the headlights, but doesn't come on all the way with blinker lever. And the shift indicators are on when the headlights are off but go off when the headlights are on. So power is getting to them, but it's being switched off somehow. I'm running thin in ideas and I don't know of a mobile electronic repair place.

maybe take the bulbs out and rotated 180 degrees, remember leds are polarity sensitive, but if that dont work, i would use a ddm to find the illumination wire. if you have an aftermarket radio installed, undo the orange wire and cap it off. usually some people wire that up wrong.

Well they worked until it shorted. Could that change polarity of everything?

And it's a stock radio.


And what's a DDM?