I am in the process of swapping out all my bulbs with LEDs. I have most of them done including the steering wheel. Everything was working fine until I was messing with the heated seat buttons. The bulbs I have do not fit in the heated seat switch so I was trying to rig something up. I think I plugged one in with an LED and no resistor which caused the damn thing to instantly start smoking. I unplugged it right away and noticed my steering wheel lights were out. Everything else is working fine and the steering wheel buttons do what they are supposed to do so it is only the lights. I checked all the fuses and they are all good. I didnt drive the car for a few days and when I got in today, I noticed the lights were working. I started driving to work (very happy), forgot something, went home to get it and when I got in my car the lights were out again.

I plan on taking apart the steering wheel again to check connections. I originally figured I blew the bulbs but now I think it could be something else.

Any ideas?

 

Dang... Sounds like lesson learned on this one, dont force things.

It sounds like fuse issue, even though its not fully burnt i have seen where the fuse is still bad. Id change it anyway. Its a reach but worth a shot.

 

I tried a new fuse and unfortunately it did not solve the problem. I was thinking maybe a loose connection but I would think that the buttons wouldnt work if that was the case. I was prepared to order new LEDs until they came on for a little while this morning. I haven't had time to start digging into it yet.

 

LEDs were probably burnt out.

 

That's my guess too so I went ahead and ordered some replacements. It's just strange that they worked again for a little while this morning.

 

If they started working again later i would doubt they burnt up...

 

A few days after I thought I fried them, I remote startedmy car and they were working when I got in. I drove down the street, realized Iforgot something, went back to get it and when I got back in my car they weren'tworking again. It was 5 minutes max. I was thinking it could be a connection in the steering wheel and turning affected it. It worked fine prior to the incident with the seat heater switch though so..... I basically have no idea. I need to tear it apart again.

 

Im unsure of what this is proving...

 

That's the problem, it doesn't prove anything or point me in the right direction. I was just trying to provide as much info as possible so maybe someone else would have an idea of what the problem could be.

 

Sorry, I was confused because you quoted my post.

 

the leds arent "fried" but they have been damaged. replace them.

/end thread

 

paperboy42190, I will try replacing them but I did discover something last night. I didn't have a lot of time but I quickly took the controls out and checked the bulbs & circuit boards. Everything looked ok so I reinstalled but still no lights. I then turned the steering wheel back & forth pretty fast and noticed the lights blink. There in a very tiny spot when the steering wheel is turned and I mean really small like a mm or less where the lights come on. It has to be so precise that I can't alway get it in the right spot. Anyway, that made me think that its a wire/connection but everything is clipped in where it's supposed to be and all the buttons work all of the time.

I will swap out LEDs first chance I get to see if this fixes it but I'm not too confident.

 

How tight do the LED's fit in the holes? It sounds like they are loose. Otherwise it could be that the wire in the clock spring got fried.

 

I really hope it's not the clock spring but after doing some research, it definitely could be. There is also a very slight "click" when I turn the wheel now.

Do clock springs deteriorate over time? I only ask because all my other functions work fine.

Am I safe to assume replacing it is the best bet?

 

Well, I found a used clock spring at a junkyard about 30 minutes away and I will most likely go pick it up this afternoon. I am a little skeptical about replacing it with a used one but I am extremely impatient and it would take at least a few days to get one if I ordered it.

They have a 101 day warranty on everything they sell so I guess that is a little piece of mind.

 

Keep us updated!

 

Well, based on some things I read I decided not to get the used clock spring. My steering wheel buttons still work when I press them, they just don't light up and my airbag light is not on. They also wanted $100 for a used clock spring.

I didn't get to spend as much time on it this weekend as I wanted to because I had to replace the intake manifold gaskets on a 3.1 buick engine which turned out to be a huge job. Ended up doing both upper & lowe, valve cover gaskets, spark plugs, coolant flush & oil change. Car runs great now though.

Anyway, I did discover that the "low" light on the driver heated seat button does not work either and it is not the bulb. I wonder if it is somehow tied together with the steering wheel buttons. Tonight I am going to put all the stock bulbs back in and see if there is any change but I doubt there will be. I tried 1 or 2 known good bulbs in the steering wheel controls but no light. Every other button in the car lights up fine.

I may end up ordering a clock spring just in case but I was really trying to avoid spending that kind of money. I have seen new ones for sale around $75. I also bought a steering wheel puller to check connections but the one time I tried to use it, the steering wheel was not popping off.

 

So last night, I tore apart the steering wheel and took the clock spring out. I did a close inspection of the exterior and checked all of the wire connections. Everything looked good so I carefully started to open it up. I got it open enough to look inside but didnt pull the ribbon out for a close inspection. It was late and I had to get my steering wheel back together enough to drive this morning. Plus I was worried I would make the problem worse. Honestly, it didnt look to bad to take out and put back in. It was coming unwound but I found some instructions for centering it. Pretty simple actually - Turn all the way to one side until you start to feel resistance, do the same in the opposite direction counting the full rotations, rotate back again 1/2 of that #.

I made sure to clean all the connections really well before reinstalling but still no lights. All the buttons still work fine and the clock spring seems to be intact. Car is tracking perfectly and steering actually feels a little better, slightly tighter. I suppose it could be one broken lead on the clock spring ribbon and I may end up having to pull it out to see. I should mention that I also put all brand new LEDs in. I thought about it a lot and my guess is that there is a bad connection somewhere between the Combination Switch and the steering wheel wiring harness. I pulled the tape off of the harness this morning to inspect all the wires and nothing really jumped out at me. I did figure out which wire is for the lights and all the lights are actually daisy chained together. The pin connector is a little looser than others which I suppose could be the problem but it is still pretty secure so I would imagine the lights would have come on while troubleshooting. I am going to put a new pin on later and hope for the best. I also plan on checking the wiring at each location with a multimeter which should narrow it down. I own one but have never used one before.

Here is a pic of the harness. The blue tape around the red wires is where all the steering wheel controls splice together. Based on the wiring diagram in the service manual, I assume that the red wires are for the lights. It also makes sense since they are daisy chained like that.

Side note: I downloaded the 04 Service Manual (.pdf) yesterday. Here is the link: http://downloads.hondatech.info/Auto...anual_2004.pdf

 

On my lunch break, I was doing some more troubleshooting. I discovered that if I plug the left control unit into the right connector, the lights work BUT the headlight switch (combination) is set to off. It did not work the other way around. This just confused me even more. By the way, the brown wire is another that is daisy chained between them.

 

How do you replace the steering wheel lights? Was gonna make my own thread but decided id just ask here since its the same subject, only about 2 of my lights work on my steering wheel and id like to replace all of them with new led's.

 

It's not too difficult but you do have to remove the airbag (at least unbolt it) which makes some people uncomfortable. There are 2 screws that hold in each control module on the back of the steering wheel. Pop them out and replace bulbs. I would recommend spending a little extra $ and ordering plug & play. LEDs have a Pos & Neg so if they don't come on the 1st time, rotate them 180. I learned the hard way that making your own can be more work than it's worth.... which leads me to an update....

 

Well, I finally found the problem. If only I didn't try to rule out every other thing first. It is the Clock Spring after all. One of the leads is burned.



I am going to try and fix it with this (doubtful it will work):



This sucks!