Hello everyone.

I picked up a 1994 Honda Accord EX a few weeks ago. From the get go, the stereo was dead. It wouldn't turn on and the power antenna was stuck in the up position. I planned on replacing the stereo anyways so I figured at worst a fuse was blown.

I wired up my Alpine iDA-X303 this morning and it wouldn't turn on. I double checked all the butt connectors and they were all solid connections. Both the fuse under the dash and the fuse under the hood for the radio were fine, but I replaced them just for laughs. Still, nothing.

I'm not too sure what else could be wrong. This is my first Honda, so I figured it may have some quirky wiring I don't know about. Do you guys have any clues what could be wrong?


EDIT: There's a fuse under the hood labeled "Radio (Backup). I just took the 7.5 fuse out of it and it was blown. Put a new one it and it blew instantly while it was still in my hands. Removed the negative battery terminal and tried a second time, but when I started it up it blew instantly.

EDIT EDIT: I just remembered something. There was a ground coming from the wiring harness and a ground coming from the CD player. In my past cars, I've always ignored the ground coming from the wiring harness and just bolted the ground from the CD player into the console somewhere. This time however, I spliced both grounds together. Do you think this could be the issue?

 

you have that +12V radio wire grounded somewhere. sometimes the stereo and cig lighter socket are on the same fuse. make sure there isn't a dime or something inside the cig lighter socket.

you need to use a DMM to probe wires and look for the short.

 

Actually, now that you mention it, I remember unplugging the metal clip from the cigarette lighter, but never plugging it back in. Maybe that laying around touching something it shouldn't. I just woke up, so after I finish this coffee I'm going to go buy a box of fuses and try this again.

 

Wow. I have horrible luck with cars. I pulled out my wiring harness and wrapped all the connections with electrical tape. Boom, the radio works. 5 seconds later my battery dies.

Still have another problem. When I was taking the radio trim off yesterday, when I popped off the Hazard Lights button, the spring and pin went flying into the car never to be seen again. I couldn't leave it plugged in without the spring and pin because the hazards would remain on. Now my blinkers don't work. Can I not use my blinkers without my Hazard Light button plugged in?

 

RE: Your first post...I had a similar problem when I installed my upgrade CD player in my 1993 LX. I found that the common ground connection I had made to the harness/cd ground was the cause. I did seperate grounds and that fixed it.

 

the hazard button has the turn signals routed through it. so it needs to be perfectly functioning and make proper contact.

you do have bad luck.

 

The junkyards in my city are owned by shady crackheads, so I opted to order a new hazard light switch from a Honda dealership.

Anyways, my head unit problem is solved so I'll see if I can solve the thread. Thank you everyone!

 

I always ground to chassis. Low resistance is key.