So I picked up a factory cd player for an 88-89 crx. The problem im having is hooking it up to my factory radio. The CD player has the standard round din cord just like my factory radio, but it also has a white 6 wire plug that does not match up to any oem plug that I have seen.

To the NooBs dont chime in saying to cut and splice the wires, this is a factory unit.

The dealers dont have any install manuals anymore so Im looking for anyone with advice.

 

That 6 pin is just a cheap generic connector that Alpine used. You are missing the Honda adapter 't' harness that plugs into the factory radio and vehicle harness then connects to the 6 pin.

 

Hmmmm, the CD player may be stock but I have never seen the ^ pin on any of their slave CD players or even the multi disc changers, the din plug contains, [should contain] everything the CD player needs, 12V constant, 12V switched, ground, signal L&R and signal return, [ground] data, amd shield ground.

Have you tried plugging it into the HU to see if it will work? 94

PS, Also have never seen Alpine use convoluted tubing, [split loom] and electrical tape on any of their harnesses, the 6 pin plug looks like an add on.

 

That unit is older than what you are thinking, pre 92 before cd changers. The din connector on the older radios is a preamp loop and I think a 12v trigger.

That cd player will require external power and the play/pause and remote in wires added to the factory radio connector for it switch properly.


The connector may have been changed? Alpine used generic connector in the 80's but the ones I remember are different than that one. If we had a picture of the other side of it to look at the crimps we could probably tell if it was original.


Is this trying being hooked up to pre or post 92 radio? It only plugs into pre 92. On a post 92 it would require an aux in adapter for the changer port and to make a din to rca cable

 

Its going into an 89' civic so it is the correct year car. I only have what is shown in the pics as far as the harness goes

 

I know the unit is older then you think I do, I was installing Alpine car audio long before CD of any kind was around, can you say 8 track?

I should have said Alpine or OEM Honda, I assumed Alpine as Alpine made a lot of OEM Honda audio products, Pioneer also made OEM Honda Audio, but with that said, I have never seen Alpine, Pioneer or OEM Honda use split loom or electrical tape, [like that] on any of their audio product, so we agree that the molex plug must be an add on, possibly a mod, as you say, for power/ground/trigger.

The 89 Civic radio would not have a CD "changer" port, it would have, as you say, a preamp loop, used normally for adding the optional EQ, it would have a jumper plug plugged into it.

I agree if it is being connected to a stock 89, [pre92] OEM HU, I am not sure it will work without "external powers".

Would also like to see the back of the unit, mainly where the molex plug is connected and how, removing the split loom, to see color of the leads, would help. 94

 

I faintly remember seeing split loom before when it is on a long lead like that. A close up of the tape would show if it was factory or not.

I was originally thinking there is an attachment cable like newer models but now wonder if it may have already had male/male radio connectors on it and someone removed them.

 

There is only tape at the base and by the connector. I pulled the tape back and there are no splices or soldering. The harness looks oem much like a dash or engine harness.

 

Sorry, Don't know what to tell you.

Black would normally be a ground.
Yellow/red is commonly used as the 12V acc., [switched] lead in Honda/Acura.
White/blue is commonly used as the 12V constant, [unwatched] lead in Honda/Acura.

The brown, white and orange I am not sure, and would only be guessing...

One may be for illumination, [or illumination dimming] that is normally a red/black lead or a red lead, [illumination ground from dash light brightness controller]
Most likely a readout dimmer like most Honda/Acura radios, [digital readouts] but still a red/black.

One of them could easily be for switching, an output when disk is loaded to switch the audio source, but I can't see where it would be connected, there should be nothing on the back of the stock HU, other then the main radio plug, an ant. port, [Motorola] and the last one would be the din plug port with a jumper plug, [4pin plug] plugged into it.

If you remove the jumper plug there should be no sound from HU, plugging the CD din plug into it should get you sound again.

Then I would connect up the 3 leads that are familiar, black to ground, then 12V to the yellow/red and white/blue.

To be on the safe side, install a load breaker on the power lead connections until you can confirm they are 12V+ leads, that way you can't damage anything.

You can make your own load breaker for almost nothing, all you need is a flasher, [the 2 pin type] connect a lead to each terminal, then one lead goes to a 12V+ source, the othe lead goes to the lead you want to power, yellow/red and white/blue, if flasher starts to flash, [click] you have a short and the lead you are connected to is not a power lead, if on the other hand the flasher does not flash/click, the CD player should light up and except a disk and play it. 94

 

Yep, I am thinking the same, pwr, acc ,ground.

The other three, two are cd remote and cd pause. They go to the two empty center pins on the radio connector. On them will switch the radio to the preamp loop and the other will pause the cd when tuner/cassette source is switched. Logically the third one has be lights on signal for the backlighting/dimmer.

If you like taking things apart, alot of Alpine's have the circuit boards marked with descriptions. Just follow the wires and hopefully you get lucky. I do that on a lot of stuff I don't have schematics for.


You probably can find a matching connector at an electronics store. Then get male/female radio connectors and make your own harness. You probably be better off getting the radio side connector from Legend in the junkyard since you need the two extra terminals in the center that a metra connector won't have in it.

 

here is pic showing where the two wires go