Hello scotty community,
My 1998 Honda Accord automatic transmission with last known mileage at 183,43x recently the power door locks don't work again. Recently I bought three instrument gauge clusters at a junkyard to test them out on my car to make sure they have a working lcd odometer since my odometer display is not working (read my other post regarding that). All of them had high mileage over 200k, I digress.
All three odometer lcd work, but I'm not sure if plugging those other instrument clusters triggered something in the anti-theft system to deactivate or cause to malfunction the power door locks. They were previously working before , I had all four doors of the power door locks repaired and replaced about a year ago. They were working fine up until I was messing around with the other instrument clusters. Is this a pure coincidence that the power door locks failed? Did I trip or blow a fuse? The alarm still works but won't activate the power door locks, I now have to revert to use my keys to manually lock/unlock the doors. Thoughts or suggestions? Thanks.
I think I remember @kaizen saying this happens commonly on those, maybe he can add to here.
ugh this is so annoying when this happens, I just had them fixed and were working fine for a year.
Where you start messing around with used parts who knows what could have been shorted out but realize even the power windows go through a module computer module and you could have damaged that it's very common if you start messing with used parts so you don't know if they're good and short stuff out
Thanks Scotty, yeah it was totally unintentional and purely coincidental that I may have accidentally shorted something like you said. I have no idea that even the power windows are controlled by a computer module like you said.
From my experience and research with my 1999 Accord:
INSTRUMENT CLUSTER
The backlights on all my LCD instrument clusters are out. The odometer. The clock. The climate control.
DOOR LOCK
The part that usually fails is the latch mechanism of the door, not necessarily power portion. Although with higher mileage I can feel my power door locks kinda wearing out. They still work though.
DOOR LOCK II
In your case, maybe try reprogramming the door locks? I personally haven't done it myself. I ran across this tidbit a while ago. Supposedly there is some super secret combination of messing with the instrument cluster that can control how the power locks work. I can't remember if it was the lights, turn signal, or something. It was interesting. Perhaps it will reset the problem, if it is not an electrical or fuse issue.
Thanks for the heads up @Kerem.
then what should I do, take it to my mechanic? If Scotty is right, I may have unintentionally and accidentally shorted something out. I really hope this issue can be fixed, though people may say its not worth while being an old car. But for me, I want to make sure almost everything works. It worked before, why not again?
well if anyone knows of this secret combination mechanism to restart the power door locking mechanism, I would like to know. thanks.