So I'm having a major issue with my radio and I can not seem to figure it out. I have a 08 Acura Tl Type S. I had some modifications on it and have taken everything out since except the alarm (viper). This issue I'm having is with my radio accent lights. I have gone through 3 radio's already. They work fine for about a week then the accent lights stay on when the car is off and it drain my battery. I checked the voltage coming out of the constant power and the accent lights and they are around 12 v.

When I first switched in the new radio, I noticed when I turned on my lights the radio lights were more dim, than the navigation and AC lights which is really weird to me. I have checked the cables time and time again and seem to find nothing wrong with them or any wires pinched. Does anyone know if the harness for my car would need to be replaced? I am thinking the resistors for the radio are built in the harness and maybe they are malfunctioning or not working.

The constant power wire and the accent light wire are right next to each other on the harness. When I spoke to an Acura tech, he thinks the wires fused together inside the radio thus causing constant power to go to the accent lights. I took the radio to one repair place and I don't even think they looked at it but they said they could not fix it. I have gone through 3 radio's and don't know what else to do. Another thing I was considering was the radio amplifier, but I don't think that it would affect the lights.

I have tested multiple wires with the lights on/off, ac on/off, and navi on/off and the voltage stays at about 12 volts. When I increase and decrease the brightness, the voltage lowers if I raise the brightness and raises when I lower the brightness. Maybe the issue is wattage instead? I'm stuck on this so any advice would help. I have my car completely disassembled and am going to try another radio repair place tomorrow. Does anyone have any options that can help me out or any options for me to try or test? I would love to have this problem figured out, it's messing with my brain!

 

What were/are the modifications?

Did you set the parking light polarity correctly on the viper? Which wire did you hook the viper parking light wire to?

Have you tried unplugging all harnesses from the Viper and then see if you still have the problem?

Can you tie the start of the problem with a mod installation?

 

I used to have a sub, amp, hid fogs, navi to video unit, headrest tv's, led turn signals, isimple ipod adapter, illuminated door sills, and angel eyes for my headlights. I have checked the radio wire and the connector I'm having the problem with is the blue one which has the constant power, lights-on signal, and dash lights brightness controller.

The Viper Alarm was the first thing I installed 4 years ago and have only had this issue recently. As far as pin pointing the problem, I am not sure which mod it started with. I checked the wires I tapped into and made sure they were tapped properly and not touching metal.

What do you mean by the Viper Parking light wire? You mean the light that flashes when the alarm is armed? The Viper is the only thing I haven't disconnected as I have no experience with alarm systems.