I recently purchased my first car, a 1997 Honda Civic EX Coupe and i have no idea about fixing up cars. The car itself drives well, but i'm interested in some of the little things.

First, i had done some research on my car online, and heard that if i replaced my factory radio with an aftermarket one, i would lose my keyless entry (not sure whether this depends on the model: DX, LX, EX, all?)?

I also was wondering about the antenna on the car and if the 97 Civic EX mechanically auto-extends the antenna once i turn on the radio (if it is auto-extend, i guess mine is broken)?

Please advise my ignorant self.

Thanks!

 

Yes, on 96-98 EXs, the keyless entry will not work with an aftermarket head unit. And no, they are not power antennas.

 

If i replaced my factory radio with another factory one (how much would a new/used one cost on avg?), will i then be able to retain my keyless entry (does that mean i have to reprogram the system, and how?)

 

Why would you replace it with another factory one?

 

To keep my keyless entry, since you stated if i put in a aftermarket one, i would lose that capability

 

You can use a "T" harness and keep the factory radio buried in the dash to retain your keyless when you add an aftermarket radio.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by gnimad &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">To keep my keyless entry, since you stated if i put in a aftermarket one, i would lose that capability</TD></TR></TABLE>
But why would you replace your OEM one? Is there something wrong with it?

 

well for those year ex. if you want to keep the keyless then just put the aftermarket deck where your cd player is and keep the head unit. thats what i see alot of people with 96-98 civics do. unless you have a Dx, or cx that doesn't come with keyless, then you can just put it right into the head unit. but if you replace and oem radio with another oem radio, as long as you use one with the keyless option then you should be good to go. probably just need to have it reprogramed at honda. hope that helps

 

i need to replace my OEM radio because the volume control is broken.
i still don't understand how exactly would i hide my OEM radio behind my aftermartket one or somewhere else inside my car. Does anyone have any photos or a detailed description as to how that would look? Thanks!

 

the keyless in 96-98 is controlled by the factory radio (kinda stupid, but thats the way it is)
If you just want a replacement oem radio, it has to be from a 96-98 civic that had keyless entry.
If you want to just replace the deck with an aftermarket one, you just need to pick up a "T" harness from say Best Buy/Circuit City/etc. This will power the new deck while also supplying power,ground,batt to the oem radio for keyless. The harness is &lt;$10
The factory radio is just stuffed behind the dash panels and plugged in using the T harness and the keyless connector (of course...its green and already there).
http://www.installdr.com/Insta...3.pdf

I believe youre thinking this is much more complicated than it really is. Its literally just as simple and straight forward as we say it is

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Does anyone have any photos or a detailed description as to how that would look? Thanks!
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It doesn't get stuffed behind the aftermarket radio. It can go in the space behind the cupholders, and you won't even know it's there.

 

Does anybody know if you can just take apart the OEM radio and get the transmitter out and take out the rest of the head unit?

 

If you can get your hands on a schematic or service manual for that radio, and if you think that it'll take less than the 5 minutes it'll take to stuff that radio behind the dash and extend a couple of wires, then by all means, do it up.

 

your dome light also wont work with the door open, you have to move the switch to on for it to work. at least thats how mine is........

 

does anyone have a picture or a link to which wiring harness i would require in order to split the OEM and Aftermarket radio? Thanks!

 

here it is bro...its 22.50. not bad to keep your keyless

http://www.installer-data.com/...1720T

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by cyang08 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">well for those year ex. if you want to keep the keyless then just put the aftermarket deck where your cd player is and keep the head unit. thats what i see alot of people with 96-98 civics do. unless you have a Dx, or cx that doesn't come with keyless, then you can just put it right into the head unit. but if you replace and oem radio with another oem radio, as long as you use one with the keyless option then you should be good to go. probably just need to have it reprogramed at honda. hope that helps</TD></TR></TABLE>


+1 thats what i would doplace the after market deck where the cd player is down by the cup holders but get one with a removable face that would be a safer place than where the stock head unit is 1 you can remove the aftermarket deck face and it wont be that noticable down there it will just look like the factory cd player. if you put it where the factory head unit is any *** hole looking for a new deck will pic in and see it right away bust the window and take it.