Ronnoc74

First off, I'm not sure if this is the right section or not. I didn't want to post it in the '92-'00 civic section and get told it was in the wrong section so I figured I'd post it here since it has to do with my radio.

1993 Civic Hatch CX

When I bought the car, it came without a radio and it didn't have the factory plug for the radio, the PO cut it off and wired his radio up that way. I found a great deal on a oem civic radio with the cd player that plugged in the back and the optional audio console without the plastic cover that goes around it all for $30. My original plan was to use the faceplate of the oem radio for when I left my car, people would think I just had a oem radio and they would leave it alone. Once I found a coin/cup holder I decided to move my radio down to the optional audio console and put the coin/cup holder in my radio spot. I finally found a factory radio plug so I could actually use my radio. Once I got it wired up I plugged the radio and cd player in and I couldn't get the cd player to work at all, but I was fine with that because I had one of those cassette tapes that would let you plug something in that had a 1/8 in jack output. The radio worked pretty much perfectly other than the fact, Which brings me to my first question, that it would reset itself every time I turned my car off which would make me have to re-enter the anti-theft code and redo all my presets every time. I know this is probably due to the constant power wire, which I checked with my multimeter and I'm getting .2 volts when the car is off but when I turn it on I'm getting 14.xx volts. What is weird is that my ACC wire is only getting 4.xx volts when the car is on. Also just yesterday it stopped ejecting the cassette adapter thing.
What is going on here? How can I fix this? I'm getting ready to put my Kenwood head unit in because I'm getting tired of dealing with these problems but I want to figure out the constant power problem so I don't have to do the same thing with it.

0c00l

Are they the stock wires or do they look like the other owner ran them? heres the original colors:
http://www.the12volt.com/installbay/...tail/1046.html

If they are original then did you unplug the radio before testing them?

Ronnoc74

They're the stock colors, he just cut the oem plug off and wired up his radio that way, instead of buying the female plug you can get from walmart to do it...

Yeah I unplugged the radio before testing.
I went ahead and tried putting my Kenwood head unit in two days ago and it won't turn on unless it has power from both the constant 12v and the battery back-up. I figured to make it work for the time being I would wire up something from one of the option connector spots on the fuse box to give it power at all times. Its rigged to work right now, I'd like to get it so it would be the way it is from the factory though, instead of ignoring the problem.

0c00l

Without the car in front of me it's going be hard. If you tested the stock wires and there are not showing what there perspective voltage, ground, ignition are then you need to trace the wires and see if they go directly to the oem harness. If they do then good luck, because according to you there's no 12v or acc. Or your not getting a good enough ground.

Ronnoc74

They do go directly into the harness. The 12v has power when the key is on (like it should), its the battery wire (the constant power wire so you don't lose your presets) that I'm having problems with. I wired it up the way I said in my earlier post, running a wire from one of the option connectors on the fuse box to the battery wire (constant power wire) on my radio, and it turns on that way when I turn my key over, so I know the ground and 12v wire are okay.

Would pictures help?

0c00l

No, I get what you did but you stated that 12v constant(direct to battery) is showing .2 volts?

Ronnoc74

When the car was off yes. When I started the car I was getting 4.xx volts

0c00l

If you have 12v at the battery when the car is off, and 14.xx when the car is running then the wire has a problem somewhere in it. You can run a new one from the battery with a fuse no more then 6 inches away from the battery. Or trace the wire all the way to the battery through all the connectors and maybe you'll find the problem that way.