99stockcivic

Hello all,

I have a 1999 Civic EX Coupe. One of things I've missed from other cars is the reverse parking sensor that chimes, dings or otherwise makes a noise to tell you that something is behind you. Our cars are low, so it's not usually people I don't see but things low to the ground like cement parking blocks, small carts, tiny children, etc. In addition, as I am teaching my teenagers to park, it's not easy to give them the sense of distance before they might back up into another object while reversing out of a tight parking garage spot. So, after investigating, I see that there are tons of inexpensive kits available on Amazon. I bought this one: It's a Zone Tech and it's under $20. It had everything I needed to install it, especially needed was the drill bit and hole saw bit to make the right size hole for the sensors to go into the bumper.



Here we go:

1 - This part takes the longest it seems to me, because it's where everything else follows. And that's finding where you are going to put the sensors. There are four sensors to install, and you don't want them too low are they will pick up the street and false alarm. Minimum height I think should be 18 inches. On the Civic, 22 inches was the perfect height for me. Why? Because behind the plastic bumper is a big steel bumper and you don't want to drill in front of it or the sensor and the wiring won't fit back there. So 22 inches is about 1-2 inches above the metal and about 1-2 inches below the top of the bumper. The next step is to get the sensors equidistant from each other. In my case, I measured to the middle of the car, then 9 inches to each side of the middle of the bumper. That put the first two sensors 18 inches away from each other (hope that makes sense), then I put the next two sensors 18 inches from each of those two, which put it pretty evenly across the entire rear bumper, ending about 1-2 inches from the corner of the bumper. I used painters tape to mark the general area and then used a ruler 3 times to verify I had it even across the back bumper and from each other.

2 - The next step is to find the reverse light wiring. This is where you will run the power and the ground, so the sensors only come on when in reverse. On my car, I found the reverse light and then traced it all the way down to the left side of the trunk well. In my case it was a blue wire with a black line on it for the positive and a black wire for the negative (I have no idea if this is standard or not on Civics, just data). Then I taped a voltmeter to verify the connection only came on in reverse. It did, so now I ran the positive and negative wire that came with the kit and soldered and then taped it up.


Here is where I tapped into the reverse light wiring to power the sensors when in reverse.

3 - Before drilling any holes, verify your sensors work by connecting them to the little connector box that comes with the kit and then simply taping them to the back of the car and backing up or holding your hand over each one to verify it signals an alarm. Now, you can finally drill the holes with your drill and the supplied drill bit. The bumper is only 1 mm thick so it take a minute but not much longer to break through.

4 - Slide your sensor in, checking to make sure the "up" side is up. If you look on the back of the sensor, the work "up" is imprinted on it, so this is easy to check. Feed the cables into the holes and then the sensor, but don't lock the sensor in yet, just push it in halfway.

5 - Get under the car (you don't need a jack, there's plenty of room on a stock height car), and start feeding all the wires to the gas tank side of the car (the drivers side).

6 - Get in the trunk and take out the drivers side panels so you can see. On the sidewall, there is a vent that leads outside of the car, this is where you will feed in the wires. It's big and shouldn't be hard to find, it's about 6 inches by 4 inches at least, but it is all black so it might take a second to spot it. It's easy to reach around in that area, nothing is obstructing your access beside the cloth panels.



7 - Get back under the car and feed the lines through the vent, one at a time, all at once, it helps to have a friend but I did it by myself just feeding them in slowly.

8 - Get back i the trunk, Pull the wires through but not too tightly.

9 - Get back under and tape the wires to the bumper so they are not flopping around. I did a piece of tape every 2 feet or so to help hold it in place. Again, nothing too tight, just so it doesn't flop around.

10 - Back in the trunk, plug all the wires in. Now plug in the sensor alarm. In my case, I just wanted the sound, so I simply wiretired the panel up in the corner near the backseat so I could hear it.




11 - At this point, find a place to tape the little box into place, It can be just taped to the floor. I also added tape to keep the wires plugged in.


Here is the controller installed, wires coming in from sensors through vent

12 - At this point it is just cleanup: put back the panel and you can then do the final push of the sensors to lock into place. You need a little flat head to push in the clips so they will lock.

Done. Probably 1-2 hours depending. I was in no rush, it was a nice day, I spent two hours.

Now it beeps in reverse when something is about 3-5 feet, beeps faster at 2 feet, and goes solid wheeeeee at 1 foot. Perfect for me and the kids.



Hope this helps.

Colin42

Well done!
I know you said you didn't take pictures, but you should take some of all the different components installed and I'll make it a sticky in the diy section

99stockcivic

OK, here is a pic with all the pieces

Colin42

Good stuff and some pics installed?

99stockcivic

Here's the back of the car

with the sensors installed.

99stockcivic

Here is the controller installed, wires coming in from sensors through vent

Here is where I wiretied the monitor in the back of the trunk since I just wanted the beeping sound and didn't care about a monitor.

Here is where I tapped into the reverse light wiring to power the sensors when in reverse.

Colin42

perfect thank you, i'll make the diy thread