vtecn8ive

*oem power locks may not work on 89-91 Crx or Civic HB due to impact beam in the door. Wagons and sedans it should work. Sedans should not need to remove window track.

Here is my How-To for OEM power windows and power locks:

List of parts:
88-91 Civic Ex/Lx parts car
All 4 window regulators
All 4 interior door handles with window switches
All 4 lock actuators with all of the connecting rods
All 4 door harnesses and harnesses that go to the inside of the car
Door lock relay (located on inside of driver door)
Driver side window switch/relay
Power Window relay located near the fuse box *optional
Power Window Fuse holder *optional (nice to have)
Lots of spare wire (unless you take apart the parts cars wiring harness)
Heat Shrink
Lots of Electrical Tape
Soldering Iron
Solder
DVOM (digital volt ohm meter)
Spare fuse holder
Helms manual
LOTS OF PATIENCE.

Would I do this again, no. I have spent around a month working on this off and on (more off then on though). But it is nice to have.

Removal:
Hopefully you know how to remove the door panel. If not, 1 screw behind the interior door latch handle, 1 screw on the side of the door panel, 1 screw in the door armrest handle, **front doors have additional screw below the pouch thing). Pull the clip off of the window crank and then pull of the window crank. Take off interior door handles, and then basically pull the door panel towards you, there are clips behind the door panel that will snap off.

Next just cut off or pull the plastic off, unless you plan to reuse then try to be careful and pull it slowly (maybe use a heat source). I replaced it so I just tore it off (and recommend it ).

Time for pics. Now time to remove the manual windows, we'll start with the easy back ones first, put the crank handle on so you can move the window up and down (you don't need to put the clip on).

Move the window towards the bottom so you can get to these bolts that hold the window on:


Remove both, I just lifted the window up and made sure it stayed snug against the window gasket, otherwise you can take the window out too.

Unbolt the following bolts:




All 3 of the ones holding the regulator on:


Now you should be able to pull out the regulator assembly:


Here is the opposite rear door without the window regulator in there:


Now is the time to remove the door locks, so we will start the with rears again:
Remove the 2 screws holding the interior door handle on:


Unscrew these 3 screws:


Unscrew that big screw in the blue thing:


Using a pliers reach on the inside of the door and pinch this so it will come out, otherwise you may have luck just prying it out (i didn't want to risk breaking it):


To remove the outside door handle:
You'll need to take off the two bolts from the inside. I am pointing to one bolt with my screw driver, and the other one is visible to the right:


Here is how I do it, I move the actuator out of the way and get the difficult one this way, then just unbolt the other one that is easy to get to:


From the exterior you will want to pull the handle out and then you should be able to twist this off. Just keep twisting until the exterior door handle is off:


You can remove the actuator now, just have to snake it around and it should come out. You MAY need to remove the window guide but I can't remembe off the top of my head, if you do its just a 10mm near the bottom of the door.

Here is a comparison of the old and new:


(i'm using a different exterior door handle)



**Front removal***
Plastic removed
http://s4.photobucket.com/albums/y10...ndwindos18.jpg

Lower the window so you can get to these bolts (you can see the bolt to the right, that will need to come off too):
http://s4.photobucket.com/albums/y10...ndwindos19.jpg

Now either raise the window and have it fit snug in the window seal, or remove it. I usually remove it, nothing fun about this window falling on you, each their own.

Remove this part of the regulator (like a counter arm?) there are two bolts, the other bolt is to the left in the picture:


Unbolt the 3 regulator bolts:


*****Sorry no pics of removing the front regulator assembly, its identical to removing the back, just a little bit more difficult I think. *****
Pic of rear for reference (in case you are to lazy to scroll up)


Removal of front door lock actuators:

Unscrew the front inside door handle (like rear).
Unscrew lock actuator (the 3 on the door sill)
Remove outside door handle

I recommend removing the rear (still front doors) window guide. The picture I took unfortunately is a bit dark, after you remove this you are able to get the actuator out a lot easier:




******Comparison photos********
rears:

rears:

front actuators:

front (bad photo):


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Ok now all the parts are removed, now I'll explain what needs to be done to some of the parts and how to do them
******************************

The front door handles (this is only if you replaced the front door handles like I did, if you are keeping the stock ones skip this step):
In order to retain your OEM locks, or to replace the front locks you just need to remove this clip, it'll slip out, do this to the replacement part and the original key cylinder and put your other key cylinder in the new door handle:



**The rears need no modification other then switching the interior **** rod, actuator and regulator assembly is drop in***

For the front and back you will need to remove these rods and use the wagon ones. Be sure to switch these out before you put the actuators in the front. Sedans are an inch shorter and its difficult to unlock if you try to use them.



The front and rears need teh
I'll refer OG for original track and PW for the power window track:

The fronts you can see there is a difference with the longer track, i'm pointing it out in this picture:


On the OG you can pound out this dent like so (don't do this on the PW since its a little difficult to repound it back out)


Instead of pounding out the dent on the PW, there are tabs on the side of the track, just bend the lip so you can bring the roller over the ball instead (sorry no pics)

On the other end you can remove it like so:


Roller should roll out:


Switch the tracks and simply rebend the parts back to normal.

Door panels:
rears/front right, you will need to cut it about a good 2 inches I think (off the top of my head), how I did it was I would test fit the actual door handle cover and just keep cutting until I thought it was enough. Sorry no exact dimensions. There is a tab at the end of the cover that can be broken if need and it will sit in fine, I chose NOT to do that, I kept the tab, I used a dremel with a circular cut off wheel:



For the driver side, it gets a little more technical. I used the metal bracket to line everything up and I just drew it out. I would recommend going a little higher and to the left a little more (closer to the lock switch) then I did since i ran into some plastic on the rear that held the fabric down. where the screws go through you actually need to cut the plastic out. i thought the screws would go from the metal frame to door panel to switch, but it just goes metal to switch (hopefully you understand what i'm saying), this way the metal applies pressure to the surrounding area and holds the switch nice and snug. I have a decent picture on my phone but can't upload it at the moment. Here is before and after shot:



In order to run wires from the rear doors you will need to do some cutting on the rears. I looked at a sedan and figured out where the most OEM spot was to cut. I got lucky because on the opposite side was a hole waiting for me! Your welcome for this picture!




***************
Installation
***************
Reverse the order of dissassembly. Sorry no pics. Do no put on door panels or plastic, because wiring is up next!


***************
Wiring
***************
Ok now that the easy stuff is done, time to get on to this wiring. If you don't have a helms, I STRONGLY recommend it. I will try to scan some pictures for everyone since I have one. A DVOM will make life a lot easier if you go the route I did for wiring (where you use only 3 different colors of wiring black, red, yellow)

The door panel harnesses will just attach as if they were in a sedan. So go ahead and run them. DO NOT cut them otherwise you will make a big headache like I did (I was planning to go a different route but in the end decided to stick to OEM):



This are the harnesses from the outside of the door panel to the interior harness. I just cut them off as close to the interior as possibly. Now I will extend everything to reach the driver side fusebox area:



**This is how I did it so I knew what wire was what at the end, since i used only 3 different colored wires**
I cut off half of the wiring from the OEM harness/plug and attached it to the end of the yellow wire, red wire, or black wire. and then wrapped up the wiring so only the colors at both ends showed OEM coloring, no yellow or red or black would show (well black but thats for grounds)
In this picture you can see what I mean, I cut the harness in half:


In this picture you can see the yellow/red wire go to a green wire (well I guess I had used 4 colors technically ) then back to yellow/red. The green wire was completely wrapped in electrical tape afterwards so it wouldn't cause any problems.



This is a final product, with door grommets installed at correct length (only picture i have like this of them):


The wiring should be ready to install and run through the cabin of the car to the fuse box. I had chose to run nearest the regular wiring as much as possibly rather then run it wherever I wanted. Looks better IMO:


Rear door hole that was cut:


Run on the inside of the car:


Go below this plastic piece and below the carpet to the front near the dash:


Run it below the carpet until you get near the fusebox (thats the route I took)

***

For the fronts due to space its a little more complicated:
I cut the original harness in and used it to pull my wires through to the inside of the cabin:


I tied the original wiring to the new wiring and pulled it through from the inside of the cabin, otherwise if you have a flexible/sturdy hanger you could do it that route, get creative because this is an annoying part:



********* I recommend doing the route I went because you will reuse the original wiring!!! *********

************************************************** ********************************

Now just start connecting wires and you are done.


j/k

Here is where I had the wires run to (I was in the middle of connecting wires):


*There really is no specific order to go in (besides the power wires which I recommend not hooking up until you have everything else hooked up and fuses in places*

Power locks is the easiest you have white/red and yellow/red and a white/yellow. White/yellow is your 12vdc power source. White/red (lock+) and yellow/red (unlock+)are switches.
The white/red and yellow/red from the driver side door lock switch is just attached to the other 3 doors. Nothing special just connect them all together. *(the white/yellow we will come back to)


For the front right you will connect blue/black (there are 2 blu/blk coming from passenger side so make sure you have the right one),
The blue/black wire will connect with the blue/black from the driver side switch AND it will connect to the blue/black wire from the Power Window Fuse holder
The blue/green will connect to blue/green from driver side switch.
The blue/yellow will connect to the blue/yellow from driver side switch
*don't mind the yellow wire here that is for the right rear window


No pictures of the rest of the power windows but it is identical to the picture above. I will explain what goes to what.

Left (driver side) front:
White/Yellow goes from fuse holder to Driver side white/yellow switch

Left (driver side) Rear window:
Green/black goes to Grn/Blk to Grn/Blk Fuse holder
Green/yellow to Grn/Yel
Green to Green

Right (passenger) rear window:
Yellow/Black to Yel/Blk to Yel/blk fuse holder
Yellow/Green to Yel/Grn
Yellow to Yel


Now if you did as I stated life will be a lot easier for yourself:
Just connect the same color wires to the ones that were originally going to the door, remember the wires you cut and helped pull your wires through the outside to the inside of the car? Yeah those ones. All you do is match colors for the speakers, and if you have auto seatbelts you will reattach those wires:


***

Ok now you should have all necessary wires attached and you just need to run power and ground and power window relay.

I forgot to get a power window relay from the junkyard so i bypassed it for now, I can try to explain it if anybody needs help doing it (it just prevents you from being able to roll the windows down when the car is not turned on)

Hooking up the power source:
Remember that white/yellow from the power lock? Ok well technically its suppose to go to fuse 3, but I dont' have time to mess around with that right now. I would LIKE to do it in the future but I'm not a huge hurry for it. So I used a fuse holder and this is how I did it.

I attached it to the white/black wires from the fuse holder and I attached both white/black wires together. So in a sense its all 3 wires connected together (no issues so far).
This is the pic of the white/yellow wire connected:


Here is how I attached the white/black wire to the white/red power wire. Its behind the fuse box, I just split the shielding and tapped into it. *helms states white/red to white/black


For the ground wire, I just put a round fitting on and attached it to a ground (sorry no pics). Make sure the metal is bare metal and not covered in paint or you run the risk of improper ground.

Now clean up all the wires with some tape or plastic covering and tuck them away. Attach the fuse holder to the side of the fuse box:


Throw some 20a fuses in there and test them out. If everything is working perfect then you can reattach the door panels. here is what I did.

I just use some spray 3m adhesive stuff (cheap stuff works fine), fine some durable plastic and cut it out to the previous liner shape. *i covered the speaker on accident its been recut since



Throw door panels back on and enjoy.

Just some notes from my experience. cut one wire and test run it exactly how you want it to go, i had cut mine too short and ended up having to add additional wiring in (not fun in that cramped place)

Make sure all of the switches are connected when you test, I had left one unconnected and the window didn't work, but i quickly realized.

When you get to the last of the wires and you have to connect them all really take your time and make sure you are connecting the right wires, blowing fuses and troubleshooting is not fun. DVOM will help you A LOT in your automotive life purchase a decent one.

Also anything I thought was going to get wet or was a power wire I would solder and heat shrink, or any wires I thought would be moved around.

I soldered ALL wires, the interior ones I just taped up and retaped and then taped again :lol:

Wiring Schematics from Helms service manual:

crx_si-r

[QUOTE=vtecn8ive;39158836]
The front and rears need teh
I'll refer OG for original track and PW for the power window track:

The fronts you can see there is a difference with the longer track, i'm pointing it out in this picture:


On the OG you can pound out this dent like so (don't do this on the PW since its a little difficult to repound it back out)


Instead of pounding out the dent on the PW, there are tabs on the side of the track, just bend the lip so you can bring the roller over the ball instead (sorry no pics)

On the other end you can remove it like so:


Roller should roll out:



just a quick tip. on the track you dont have to modify anything. just take a hammer and knock the track off. you dont need to cut or pound the dent in. you can re-install the track with a hammer as well.

sanimalp

oh damn.. this needs to be entered in the faq somewhere, if it isnt already.. Crazy amount of work.

I would solder and heat shrink everything so you don't go crazy when something flakes out. but thats just me

either way, great job..

PinkBatman

WOW! Bump for great info and no props for it. Way to go! Great info.

vtecn8ive

Everything was soldered, shrink wrapped, and then covered with electrical tape.

Only thing I would have changed would be to use wire loom, a lot easier than taping everything and adds protection.

Tyson

wait, so you have a DX sedan and just put oem power windows and locks onto your sedan?

this would not apply at all to CRX's and 3dr civics then.

redef90si

iTrader: (3)

Great write up man!

moebiius

pictures of the windows not going all the way down? if all four windows are pretty much the same, one picture will do, thanks bro

DixieSccaCrx

Very good guide with hefty amounts of needed information. I
Might look into doing this at some point. Thanks.

MRZCCRX

iTrader: (1)

GREAT GUIDE!!!!

NY_2_OC

Man! Thats a shitload of work yo.

IMO too much, but def props on using your brain.

I did this to my 92 hatchy a few years ago, but I bought some conversion kit on ebay.
It worked real good and the speed was pretty good and I mounted the switches in the middle console by the handbrake. Look pretty dope.
N E way. Props on the hard work G.

hmbab2000

My question is regarding the driver door wire harness...

Mine is pinching, and appears to be causing a short with the rear windows.
Does that harness "plug-in" at both ends?
It plugs into the door and disappears into the frame/dash.
I notice in your pictures, you are wiring into a harness?

How possible would it be to replace that segment of wire harness?
I saw your warnings about that being the worst part to re-run.
If there was a plug on the end....?

I think I'll head to the pick-and-pull after reading your write-up.

Great work, by the way!
I see lots of patience!
Not to mention writing that long How-To with pictures!
Awesome!

Fastfreddy1

Very nice write up!

hmbab2000

So after some investigative discovery, i found the problem...

Thr wire harness, at the door socket, had two severed wires.
Here is the part that i found amazing...

The wires were cut, stock.
After pulling three wire harness' from junkyard cars, all three had the insulation cut on the same two wires.
As if the wires were prepped twice on the insulation.
The fourth car pulled apart revealed a fully intact harness plug.
Once spliced in all windiws work perfect!

Heads up though, the wires had to have been severed at the factory.
No pinching, and no one cut them...

vtecn8ive

It was for a Rt4wd Wagon, I used sedan EX/LX power regulators and combined them.

On my Crx, I had Canadian power window setup (but b-pillar mounted), so I had to change out the 2 rails on so they would work with my Crx.

Not sure why this wouldn't work for a Crx if you simply take the rails off of it and attach them onto the Sedans??





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There are plugs on where the door meets, but from that point all the way to the inside of the cabin it is solid wires, no other connectors That's from the factory too.

-------------

It was a lot of work, but I did it all at work, besides the cutting. So I got paid to install these :D

--------------


Car has since been sold.

garracudda

Amazing write up, can you let us know how you bypassed the power window relay?

Tyson

because most of the work you did does not at all apply to CRX and 3dr civics and are missing some key info.

so if you have a CRX/3dr, then this write up is useless.

vtecn8ive

Kind of like your post.

Can you reiterate what the key info is? Yeah it's using different switches, but a majority of the wiring is identical.

Which components won't work?

Tyson

the key thing on installing power windows on a CRX/3dr with OEM power window regulators is to switch out the spring because of the weight of the window is different.

and all your wiring is not necessary. im only commenting because your title is misleading/misinformed.

your large pics dont help either. i dont get why ppl do that... just resize the pics.

here is my write up for just the passenger side. driver side is the same process really. up to you what to do with the switches.

dont miss the first two links i have embedded for more info.
https://honda-tech.com/forums/honda-crx-ef-civic-1988-1991-3/installed-power-window-passenger-side-my-crx-2868096/

TearSDMF89dx

im totaly putting power windows in my hatch now! ...i just dont know what to do with the window crank holes seeing as i already have tweeters mounted in the top part of the door panels

hybridef

both write-ups are great, lots of good info. great job.

"TearSDMF89dx" - I would grab some door panels from a wrecker. just use a plug like the OP did. I seen a build on here where a guy bought jdm door panels and butchered them up using the JDM bottoms on the US tops.. obviously not a cheap option, depends what your after. personally ive wanted to do this, but being in Canada and not having door mounted seat belts, I will save up and buy complete EDM doors. I just dont know how well the sedan power window set up will last with the bigger hatch window

garracudda

Guys...This is my setup I have, out of a JDM Civic, now in my '94 coupe...nothing working(passenger window will work with a 2dr Integra switch)...any clue where I'm going wrong? Missing something?

White/Yellow to Power
Black to Ground
Blue/Green Driver to Blue/Green Passenger
Blue/Yellow Driver to Blue/Yellow Passenger
Blue/Black Driver to Blue/Black Passenger

Really appreciate if someone who knows anything about power windows could help me out...

TearSDMF89dx

screw all this work im just gonna buy the SPAL kit for 100 bucks and use some switches i have laying around....the kit comes with the door panel plugs too

vtecn8ive

When your SPAL kit fails in a year come back and look up how to do it a proper way

vtecn8ive

bump to be added to the Faq's section..

Finally added pictures from the Helm's service manual. lol