98-02 Honda Accord AC: Fix It Yourself And Save

I started running into issues with my 2000 Honda Accord's Air Conditioning a couple of months ago. The symptoms were the following

• All A/C control panel LEDs went out
• None of the buttons worked
• Only the blower motor speed control worked

Exactly what happened to this guy.

I could control how hard the air was blowing, but I couldn't make the air cold or hot. Needless to say, this was extremely annoying. The problem also wouldn't happen every time I drove my car. In the morning it would work, then on the way home from work it would all of a sudden stop functioning. This went on for weeks until I finally decided to do some research.

It looks like this is a common problem with this year of Hondas. I found lots of forums which discuss this exact same problem. The issue comes from the A/C and Heater Control Board and it's due to a small design issue. There's a couple of ways to fix this.

• Get it repaired
•  This will most likely cost around $300 for a brand new unit, and additional money for an hour's worth of labor
• Buy a used control board replacement
• You can find used A/C Heater Control Boards for 98 - 02 Honda Accords for around $200
• You can also try looking at local salvage yards
• Do It Yourself for around $30!

I found a few guides online that taught me how to fix the problem myself with just a few bits of soldering. And to my surprise, it's worked great! I've had at least a year of no issues and I expect the fix to last me a lot longer. I was so amazed at how easy this was that I made this blog just to document the fix and help others save a bit of money.

EQUIPMENT NEEDED

This will be everything you'll need to buy, and most likely you already have some of this stuff lying around

• Soldering Iron Kit: Don't need anything fancy. Just make sure you get solder with it. 
• Wire
• Flathead & Phillips Screwdriver
• Cloth rag (I used it to help protect my clock when prying it loose)

HOW TO

** I am not an expert. I also can't guarantee that this will work for you. However, I followed these steps and it worked for me.

1. Remove the Radio Trim
1. DISCONNECT YOUR CAR BATTERY - save your electronics. **Be sure you have the code for your factory radio before starting this process. I had to get mine from a Honda Dealer. You'll need it when you hook everything back up.

These steps are also covered in these 2 videos (which were very helpful)

 How to Install Car Stereo(Pioneer AVH-2400 in 2000 Honda Accord)

2000 Honda Accord Radio TrimRemoval Instructions

2. Remove the two screws at the bottom of the center console.
3. Using the Flathead screw driver and the cloth rag, gently pry loose the clock.
4. Unclip the wires to remove the clock. Be sure to pull from the plastic connectors and not the actual wires.
5. Unscrew the Phillips head screw that is located behind the clock.
6. Gently pull with two hands to separate trim from the bottom of the dash.
7. There are two clips that are located behind the clock location. These gave me a lot of trouble. I had to reach in and unclip these to then separate the whole trim.
8. Unclip the wires to remove from the trim.

2. Uncover the AC Control Board from the Radio Trim
1. Pull the control knobs off the front.  
   
2. Remove screws of the black cover on the back. 
   
3. Twist and remove the light bulb connected to the black cover. Then remove the whole black plastic cover in order to reveal the control board. 
   
3. Solder the Board
1. Orient the radio trim so that the air vents are facing away from you.
2. We'll be jumping a pin near D3 to the pin left of R12. 
    
3. Check out some soldering videos if you're never soldered before.
4. Measure out a length of wire that's long enough to connect both pins but is also able bend a bit. Then solder the ends of the wire to the pins to jump the connection. 
   
5. I used a really thick wire (just because it's what I had already), so I had to make some room into the black cover. I used my screw driver to carve out some space. 
   
4. Reassemble everything in reverse order.

Test everything out in your car and make sure it's all still working. Congratulate yourself on saving a ton of money!

I'd like to give a huge thanks to hybridmojo on the driveaccord.net forums, where I followed his original instructions.