johnboy1313

Long story short, I have an '01 Civic EX that had an aftermarket stereo in it. The stereo sucked. I did my best incredible hulk imitation the other day while I was in a particularly bad mood and now I find myself without a stereo in my Civic. I have the stereo and amplifier and wiring from a 2003 CL-S leftover from when I built the shiftervan. For those of you not familiar with the shiftervan, look at my other posts. Anyhow, I've got this Acura radio that is kinda shaped like a trapezoid. The hole in the Civic's dash is like a trapezoid with one side cut square. The connectors are exactly the same. Most of the wiring is the same except for the number one wire and the number 3 wire. On the Acura, #1 is called "Radio Switched Power". It runs to the amplifier and I believe it turns the amplifier on when the radio is on. This wire isn't there for the Civic. #3 runs to the steering wheel remote switches. The Civic doesn't have these either.

Last night I plugged the Civic's stock harness into the Acura's stereo WITHOUT USING THE AMPLIFIER and turned the key on. Only the security light on the front flashed every so often as if it wasn't wired correctly. There was no response from the radio's power button. It did work in the Acura. I've attached a chart comparing the wiring, along with pics of the fronts of the radios. I kept all of the brackets from the CL too. I believe I can get the thing physically installed with no problems.

I understand it's not easy to troubleshoot over the internet, but do any of you know for certain if the stock Acura radio has to be connected to the stock amplifier to power it on?

johnboy1313

Maybe I was nice enough to it last night. I plugged it in again just now and it came on and needs the code. I'm gonna give the dealer a call right now.