ranners

Hello everyone,
I am very new to working on cars and I thought it would be a good idea to start with installing acd player as I anticipated failure but I didn't want to break my car. So I got a used honda, and the aftermarket cd player stopped taking cds, so i thought I would get a new one. As the old one was a Pioneer I figured I'd get a new pioneer to make my transition a bit easier. However after removing the old one, I noticed that the cable converter no longer fit into the new one so i had to use the one supplied to me in the new box. After doing all the rewiring and insuring that all the cables are matched up together I turned on my car and no power, even when pressing the power button (i actually pressed all the buttons). I then removed the butt connectors from the ground, constant, and ignition wires and twisted the copper directly to each other to insure connectivity, however same result. I then thought it was a bad unit so i reinstalled the old unit so i could atleast listen to radio but same result. So now I have a unit sitting there with no way to turn it on.

So I assume my problem is that I pulled something somewhere, I know this is very vague but if anyone needs more information than tell me where to look and i'll be happy to get it. My main question would be, is there some set of cables I should verify are plugged in? my concern right now is just getting power to the unit.

my car is: Honda 2003 Civic DX

Thanks for your help.

GolNat

iTrader: (7)

Did you check the fuse? Should be one either in the headunit of attached to the harness. If those are good check the fuse in the fuse box.

ranners

Okay, thanks for the help. I gave a look at the fuse on the backside of the player and under my steering wheel. (the manual didn't say there was a fuse under the hood). They both look good to me but I think i'll switch them out anyways after work when I can go buy some. Also I was looking up some more "how-to's" and I ran across this one.

http://www.ehow.com/how_6067798_remo...nda-civic.html

and it states as a first step I should remove the negative battery cable from the battery prior to doing everything, however the tutorial i followed didn't do that. Would that be causing me problems?

GolNat

iTrader: (7)

They tell you to disconnect the negative because it is safer. If everything is live then you could short something out easier. It's not neccessry but a good idea.

ranners

short something out..oh joy. that's probably what I did then. Well I'll respond tomorrow sometime, after i have fresh fuses in there so I know they are good without a doubt.

this may be far more trouble than i was expecting, but is also a good learning experience. Thank you for helping me out.

CraigW

iTrader: (1)

Check the fuse called "back up" in the under-hood fuse box.

GolNat

iTrader: (7)

That's the fuse I couldn't think of. I remember seeing you mention it before and I looked in my service manual and couldn't find it.

ranners

Okay so it was the "Backup" fuse under the hood. When I checked that even I noticed it was blown. So after changing that the unit was working properly.

Thanks for all your help guys.

mikey1

ALWAYS disconnect your battery when working on anything electrical.....thats just common sense

just like when working on wiring in your home....you shut off the power at the breaker/fuse panel (source) first

04 Honda Civic

iTrader: (2)

If your doing ANY electrical work on a car.
Or even any major work, first think you do is pull the negative terminal.

Think about cars with "automatic start"
Think about if an electrical fan kicks on if someone turns the ignition switch on and the cars hot.

These are not very likely but its good to keep them in mind.

Stay safe.