Hi, new member here, I have a 1988 Honda Accord that all of the dash illumination lights went out. I smelled burning insulation and then there was a wisp of smoke that came out of the hazard light switch. I checked everything and everything works except the dash illumination lights. I checked with a volt meter the 2 wires that feed the dash lights and they both read 12v to ground!! I have pulled wiring harness for the gauge cluster out and down and opened it up and have not found anything burned or cooked.
This is out of the blue.
There is no radio installed but I was thinking about installing one, I have not had a radio in the car for almost 2 years, it was removed prior to my taking ownership.

 

Have you pulled the dash dimmer and tested the inputs and out puts?

 

I had almost the same thing happen on my '84 Crx, so I pulled out the instrument cluster and it has printed circuits similar to an old transistor radio which looked like they were shorted out. I went to the junkyard and found a cluster that wasn't shorted out, installed it and the dash lights worked. Hope this helps.

 

I did pull the dimmer. I also have a few spare parts as I have stripped out 3 other Accords (don't ask, it was a long process to get a running accord). One of the ones I took apart and it was cooked. I took the one out of the car apart and it looked fine, I was having a hard time getting readings off the little pins. It was easier to get at the contacts with it apart but my readings did not seem normal, I was having many issues with lighting and my meter. I will redo the tests with my regular meter, once I find it.

The cluster looks fine, just like the other 3 that I have.

I tried looking at my friend's manual for his 89 accord but I could find nothing on the illumination circuit in it. I wish I could find a schematic for it somewhere. If I get home from work early enough tomorrow, I may see what the library has.

 

try this thread for a place where you can download a manual....

https://www.hondaaccordforum.com/for...threads-40780/

I have to one from the "spoonertuner" site......pretty nice

 

FYI I have discovered that the turbo switch out of an old computer has the same spacing as the pins in the dimmer switch. I was able to plug this into the bottom 3 wires of the dimmer and positively test the dimmer. If pin one is the top (not used in my wiring harness, there is no wire to it), pin 2 and 3 are for the light, 4,5 and 6 are to the dimmer. Between pins 4 and 6 I get a reading between 2.5Ω and 9.11KΩ. This is the one out of the car. I tested the other 2 that I have and got similar readings, 3.9Ω-8.66KΩ and 2.9Ω-9.6KΩ.

I searched through a lot of the manuals on that site but could not find anything for the 1988 Accord.

 

There are a few PDF's.....starts with the 86 - this covers most things, like the wires. The other PDF's are updates. Most things on the 86 to 89 are the same...3rd gen Accord

So test the inputs to the dimmer, there is a post by me not too long ago where I did this on my 89 LXi to help another member.

 

Ok, I figured that my dimmers are good then as they are close to the specs you have shown. So I guess there are problems elsewhere in the system. Do you know if the dimmer is on the supply side or the grounding side of the circuit??

 

I tested the power, the connector to the console has 12 volts to it (red/black stripe), the second line that has 12 volts (red) if grounded, the lights on the dash come on. This leads me to believe that the dimmer switch is on the ground side. I connected one of the dimmers on the ground side from the dash console and the lights did not dim on a linear scale like it does normally. The lights went out in less than a quarter turn of the dial. Still looking for schematic for it. If I don't find one soon I will just cut and splice my own rheostat in for a ground.

 

Really sounds like the dimmer.....one of the tests is to grounf that wire and if the light goes full bright......

The diagrams are in the manual(s) that you downloaded. Yes I HATE ELECTRICAL as well..... Only thing worse in my book is/are water leaks.