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Crossed battery terminals and keyless entry

Joined
5 February 2005
Messages
10
I've got a '98 t that I accidentally (stupidly) put the battery in backwards and touched the terminals. Can you say "ARC WELDER"? Anyhow, I guess Acura prepared for the stupidity and all that happened, I thought, was the 120 Amp fuse in the engine compartment blew and the horn wend off. After driving the car a bit I noticed the "keyless entry remote" no longer locked the doors. To make a long story short, I removed the passenger side bottom of the dashboard (under the glovebox) by removing 2 sheet metal screws in the front of the panel. If you follow the wiring harness from your keyless transmitter, which was attached to the bottom of the panel, you will see blue tape that holds some loose wires together. There are what looks like 2 fuses terminating some of the wires. The black one with the long narrow spade ends on it isn't a fuse......it is a diode. Don't screw with that! Under a plastic cap you will find the actual fuse. It's a standard 3 Amp purple automotive fuse. You will notice that it is burned. The dealer has no clue what kind of fuse or diode is in there. They do not appear in his direction sheet.
Moral of the story...if you burn your 120 AMP main fuse you probably also burned your 3 AMP keyless entry fuse. No other fuses blew or any other damage was caused by screwing up the battery terminals.
 
Good info to know, thanks for sharing. It's detailed in the electrical troubleshooting manual but not much info on what it looks like.

Mike
 
I've got a '98 t that I accidentally (stupidly) put the battery in backwards and touched the terminals. Can you say "ARC WELDER"? Anyhow, I guess Acura prepared for the stupidity and all that happened, I thought, was the 120 Amp fuse in the engine compartment blew and the horn wend off. After driving the car a bit I noticed the "keyless entry remote" no longer locked the doors. To make a long story short, I removed the passenger side bottom of the dashboard (under the glovebox) by removing 2 sheet metal screws in the front of the panel. If you follow the wiring harness from your keyless transmitter, which was attached to the bottom of the panel, you will see blue tape that holds some loose wires together. There are what looks like 2 fuses terminating some of the wires. The black one with the long narrow spade ends on it isn't a fuse......it is a diode. Don't screw with that! Under a plastic cap you will find the actual fuse. It's a standard 3 Amp purple automotive fuse. You will notice that it is burned. The dealer has no clue what kind of fuse or diode is in there. They do not appear in his direction sheet.
Moral of the story...if you burn your 120 AMP main fuse you probably also burned your 3 AMP keyless entry fuse. No other fuses blew or any other damage was caused by screwing up the battery terminals.
My car is a 2000 model year, and my keyless remote does not work. The panel under the glove box on my car is very small and only holds the OBD port, there is no other panel and no brackets to attach another panel. Can you provide a photo of what your keyless transmitter looks like? Does anyone know if the transmitter is different and in a different location on a 2000? Thanks.
 
On my 2000, the OEM keyless entry receiver is a square black box about 3.5" x 3.5" and about 0.75" thick (eyeball approximations!). It is attached to the bottom side of the large flat horizontal panel that is below the glove box area (part #19 in the following diagram):

http://www.acuraoemparts.com/auto-p...rior-bumper-cat/instrument-panel-garnish-scat

It is easily visible if you get on your knees and look up under the glove box area in the passenger side footwell. The mounting seems a little flakey (and a clear afterthought); however, that panel is up far enough that the unit is out of harms way.

The keyless units are all post factory installs and If it is done by an owner, I think there is a natural tendency to assume that the unit should be mounted above that panel where it will be hidden. There is zero clearance between the top of that panel and the bottom of the glove box so the unit can't go there. This may confuse some installers . I know that I did a couple of test fits before I finally figured out that yes indeed, Honda did intend to mount the unit on the exposed side of the panel. If your unit is not visible hanging on the underside of the panel, then the installer probably couldn't figure out what Honda really intended and likely jammed / taped / velcroed it into some nook under the dash.

If you look under the glovebox area and don't see the little black box, I can get a photo of the unti so you know what you are looking for.
 
I just bought a keyless entry here with fobs - seller reported "sure it will work - I just used it".
Installed it - it didn't work - swore at the guy - then found this same 3 amp fuse.
Happy me - nice seller.
I don't think I saw this fuse in the wiring diagram.
I didn't look too long - thought I would just replace it and see if it blew again.
Maybe someone knows where this is - it may solve other keyless issues people have.
 
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