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Hi guys, I am new here so if I posted in the incorrect section let me know, but I think this is right. I just recently bought a used 1997 Honda Civic LX as a commute car for class everyday, but upon inspecting it closely I have found some unfortunate problems that I do not know how to diagnose or how to fix. I'm gonna explain the problems and number them, so if you know what is wrong or how to fix it, please put the number beside your post! Thanks again guys.

1. Okay so the first problem I ran into was when trying to install my aftermarket stereo. I have a sony cdx-gt520 that does fit, however I am not sure if the OEM harness is even in the car. The guy that previously owned it had an aftermarket headunit installed and someone decided to break into the car, messup the dash a bit, and steal it. This is where the first problem comes in. I have no idea what these wires are. There are 3 "sets" of wires. The first two are actually capped by green harnesses, one small and one medium sized. What are these for? Do these go to the head unit, because I looked at the aftermarket wire harnesses, and they dont look like they match either of the green harnesses. The 3rd set of wires don't have a harness ending and are just frayed and look like they have been crimped to original wires, I am wondering if the thief ripped these wires out and took the OEM harness with it? Though I don't know why they wouldnt just unclip the harness. Which of these is the OEM Harness?

2. I understand that some Civics have keyless entry, which apparently has to do with the head unit. Is this a very important factor in reinstalling an OEM harness? I do not have a keyless entry button, but I know that there are two different harnesses for keyless and keyed entry.

3. I found a diagram of some of the car wires, could I just directly connect my aftermarket stereo to the cars wires by soldering or crimping?

I'll post the rest of the questions once these are covered. Thanks again guys.

 
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how bout you not spam the forum with multiple threads asking the exact same thing? and yea you can directly wire the stereo

 
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Sorry, I think the website is getting a lot of traffic or something, I didn't even think any of my threads went through.

 
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usually you can buy an aftermarket harness that will plug into whatever harness your car is and you wire that to the stereo harness. unless the factory harness is cut, then you've gotta wire it directly or make your own harness.

 
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Yeah, I am guessing it is cut. So all I do is match up the harness wires to the car diagram wires right? They are different colors but I have diagrams telling which is which.

 
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I can not remember if the lx's had factory keyless entry that year, I know the Ex's do. See if the original radio is hidden below where the radio is, sometimes it is behind the cig lighter. The green wires might be from a honda alarm system that goes through the orig radio.

Also, when you open the door does the interior light come on?

I would start from scratch, trace the wires to see if they are plugged into the factory harness (easy to notice it will be i think a white or gray molex plug), if so unplug it and get a new wire harness.

 
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I have the original stereo, they had it unplugged I am pretty sure, because they had it just lying on the floorboard. I don't think there is a factory harness, which is why I am considering just directly plugging the aftermarket stereo into the factory wires. Also, the light does not come on when I open the door, what does this mean?

By the way, I looked at the honda diagram and there is a set of wires I am not sure what to connect to. My stereo has wires for 12 Volt ignition/Acc., and one for 12 Volt Batt/ Mem. The Civic has wires for constant 12 volt, and switch 12 volt. Which go to which?

 
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The door light goes through the stock radio. Can you take some pics of the wiring back there? Ideally if there is no plug then they cut it off, which is a bad thing to do makes a mess. I would double check, but trace the wiring back to what looks like the original factory harness, if cut then splice that to the new radio's harness that comes with it.

 
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You do mean the light in the middle of the roof of the interior correct? Because the only time that comes on is when i switch it to "On". Auto and Off both have it off. I am 95% sure that the wires that are coming out of the Civic are where the factory harness went. I checked their website for the wiring diagram, and every color is there, none missing and none extra. I still am not sure which wires the red and yellow wires go to in aftermarket radios tho.

Also, will installing a new aftermarket radio fix the door light?

 
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Alright so I have a new problem now. I spliced all of the wires to (what I believe) to be the correct wires on my stereo, but I cannot get the radio to turn on. No lights come from the radio, and obviously no sound comes out. What do the two 12 volt wires go to on the aftermarket stereo? (The yellow and the Red one)

By the way, I am almost positive I have everything connected right. I have the yellow connected to a white / blue wire, and a red connected to a yellow/red wire.

Also, what could cause a head unit to short out and fry? I am very worried about the head unit as it costs about 100$.

 
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The red and yellow are typically universal power wires. Red is ignition power that turns on with the key and the Yellow is constant battery power.
Most aftermarket radio will have a red and yellow wire on their harness. What brand radio are you trying to install?

http://www.the12volt.com/installbay/...tail/1050.html

 
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It is a Sony Head Unit, the serial for it is the CDX-GT520, they aren't made anymore but you can find the specs online, and they are still sold on amazon and ebay. Could I have fried it somehow? I am really hoping I didn't because I am fairly broke. With my last mazda, the ground wire did not plug into the harness and instead had to be wired to some metal on the chassis, but since I directly wired this unit, there was a black wire which I assumed ( hopefully correctly) was the ground wire, so I spliced those together... Any thoughts? How could I check if it is fried or not?

 
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2 thoughts, is there a fuse on the back of the radio? Also, under the dash check the radio fuse in the fuse box.

Have you tried or used this radio before to know if it ever worked?

 
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Checked both fuses yesterday, radio fuse was fine, car radio fuse was blown but i replaced and still wouldn't work. It was 7.5Amp tho which i thought was strange. Radio worked fine in my last mazda.

 
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Might want to try another radio.