Ceiling Light Doesn't Work

SOURCE:
Honda Service News July 2003

TITLE:
Ceiling Light Doesn't Work

APPLIES TO:
1990-02 Accord

SERVICE TIP:
If the ceiling light doesn't work when you open the doors even though the door monitor on the instrument panel says the doors are opening and closing correctly the problem could be a damaged printed circuit board in the door monitor. To check for a damaged circuit board, remove the gauge assembly, and ground the BLK/WHT wire in terminal A10 of the gauge assembly's 14P connector. If the ceiling light comes on when you ground the wire, the door monitor's printed circuit board is shot and must be replaced.



So what causes this circuit board to go bad? Usually an aftermarket security system is to blame. Many of these aftermarket systems use the door monitor's BLK/WHT wire (it's also the main wire for the ceiling light circuit) to indicate when the doors are open. If the circuit board can't handle the amperage requirements of the aftermarket system, it gets damaged and the ceiling light doesn't work.