I have a 2003 RL with over 300k on it, and about a year ago someone broke my windows and attempted to steal my touchscreen double din stereo. They weren’t able to get the stereo out, but did damage my dashboard pretty bad. I unscrewed and stored the stereo at home as it was hanging out halfway, but lost it in between moving a few times. About a month ago, I bought a used jvc single din stereo from craigslist and hooked it up but it instantly started smoking and burning up. I disconnected it right then and threw it out, but that’s when the electrical problems start.

Till then my dash only had the ‘maintenance required’ light on but right after the stereo shorted, the check engine light came on, the vsa light, and some weird triangular hazard light in the middle which I don’t even know what it is. The cabin lights wont turn on when the door is opened and even my remote keyfob wouldn’t work when the car is off (it does work when the car is turned on so it’s not a remote battery issue). Literally nothing electrical works when the key is removed.

Now I don’t know much about cars and auto service, but I have a good mechanical aptitude and try to learn and do DIY fixes to my car. So far, I have tried removing the battery and cleaning the terminals, and checking every single fuse under the steering column to see if there’s a blown one (I didn’t know what exactly to check for so I checked them all lol) but I haven’t had any luck. If anyone knows what the problem might be, please do help me out here. I just love driving this car and would hate to let it go due to inconvenience. Any suggestions are appreciated, and please ask if you need more info. Thanks in advance.

 

it may be a blown fuse, or worse a blown MICU.

you'll need to use a multimeter to look for the blown fuse.


https://www.wikihow.com/Test-a-Fuse-With-a-Multimeter

 

How do I check if my MICU is blown? And is it easy to fix?

 

You likely have a short somewhere if the new radio was smoking. It's probably not on a fused circuit, so check and see if there's any power wires coming directly from the battery or spliced into a direct battery voltage source.

The warning lights could be unrelated, you need to get the codes scanned at a parts store. The ABS/VSA could be related to the CEL. You may have to take it to a shop or dealer for a better scan tool for the other systems.