Guide for installing aftermarket radio in '96 civic with remote power locks.

This is a guide to help any installer or extreme do-it-yourselfer out
there who has wondered why the power locks quit working when you
install an aftermarket radio in these cars. This might work for an
accord but I can't guranatee it.

I am a veteran car audio installer who recently purchased a '96 civic
and realized after some study into why my power locks would not
remotely lock after an aftermarket radio install was due to the fact
that Honda routes its security system through the factory radio.

Go figure..!

Here is what you will need to do this:

- Female wire harness (from a dealer).
- Male wire harness. (don't cut the one in the car) you need 1 more.
- Cardboard or thin rubber insulation.
- Duct tape (or Alabama Chrome in the south)
- 1 Ziploc Bag. Preferrably and ESD bag if possible.
- Factory radio. (If you don't want to use the factory radio that
came in your car then get one of the same kind from eBay or a junkyard
but this is the component you must use for your power locks to work)

Now I am sure there is someone out there who is a Electrical Engineer
that would know how do design a small circuit board that could plug
into the harness without using the factory radio and hats off if you
can (you might be able to make good money at it also), but for now we
will assume that not all of us have access to an EE to make us one...

1. Take the Civic factory radio of your choice and dissasemble it
down to the PCB. Even if it has a CD or tape player, take it out,
remove the chassis, display and heat sink. We are only using the PCB
for as a passthrough for door locks and it will not be powered for
sound. We will still have to supply power to it in step 3.

2. Put the PCB in a ziploc bag to protect it and put the green and
white connector ends toward the bottom of the bag and make a cut in
the bag so you can plug it in later. Use a piece of cardboard or thin
rubber and place it on the bottom of the PCB cut to size to protect it
from shorting out later inside the dash. Wrap the PCB (now in the
bag) in duct tape to make a nice compact package.

3. DO NOT CUT THE FACTORY WIRE HARNESS. When you hook up the FEMALE
wire kit to your new aftermarket radio you will want to run 6"
pigtails off of the wires marked battery, ignition and ground only.
Connect the MALE connector to these pigtails. Disregard any speaker
leads, they are not used. This is going to power the radio/lock PCB.

4. Before you install the DIN cage from the aftermarket radio, put
the PCB in the dash and hook up the white male and green male
connectors (respectively) to the PCB. You might hear the horn honk.
Before you hook the aftermarket radio up you should be able to lock
the doors with the PCB installed.

5. The PCB will have to be turned over with the bottom of the PCB
facing the front of the car and tucked neatly and gently down behind
the radio slot. It will take some wiggling to get in in but it will
go down into the dash behind the A/C controls.

6. Tuck all wires neatly out of the way and make sure that you do not
force the aftermarket radio back into the PCB. There is enough room so
do not muscle the new radio into place. That should do it. The total
time is about 2 hours but worth it to keep the door locks and dome
light working.

Good luck.

 

Cybershooter,

Good guide. This applies to '96 - '98 models, in '99 Honda mended their
ways. on '96 - '98 the stereo isn't just a pass-through for the door
locks, the actual keyless entry receiver is in the stereo. When mucking
around with it, be careful not to bump any of the coils on the PCB,
frequently they way cheap receivers (like ones for keyless entry) are
tuned is by having some girl in Shen Zhen move the coil windings around
with a pair of tweezers. If you distort the coil, it will loose its
tune.

Some people have reported putting the entire factory stereo hidden in
the dash when putting in a new unit. To do this, get one of these wiring
harnesses:
http://www.scosche.com/scosche/connectors/ha-connector-kits.asp

You may or may not have noticed that you lost your dome-light when you
put in the after-market stereo, the wire from the door switches to the
dome light is routed through the stereo for use by the optional security
system.

The Honda dealer isn't the only source for the factory harness. The
following places has various combinations of male and female harnesses
for both the stereo and the keyless entry:

http://www.metraonline.com/
http://www.scosche.com/
http://www.americaninternational.net/

 

we used to just jam the whole factory radio behind the center of the
dash. without the factory radio faceplate you have no way to program
new remotes.
you can fit it all in just takes some work. and without the
display you won't know when you are in remote programming mode.
Chip