Ok I will make this short and sweet. My Power socket (Cig Lighter) on my 99 Honda Civic Lx didn't have a fuse in the fuse box so I put one in and everything works, but now when I turn my car off my aftermarket Alpine phantom stereo stays on for like 10-15 seconds then it turns off then another 5 seconds the face plate folds in into the dash. Never did that before. It was always when I turned my car off the my stereo turns off 3 seconds later the face plate folds in. Don't know why the sudden wait time. Maybe its supposed to do that I have no clue. I pulled out the brand new 10amp cig fuse out until I figure this out. Does anyone have any ideas? I dont know where to start. I dont have any wiring diagrams to look at.

 

when you removed the 10 amp cig fuse did the deck return to folding away after only 3 seconds again? if not id say check the power settings in the deck.

 

Yup, As soon as I pulled it out I turned my car back on everything turned on. I turned my car off and my stereo turned off face plate folded in at 3 sec. I'll check the settings but what I dont understand is when the fuse is out my stereo turns right off as soon as I turn my car off. With the fuse in my stereo doesn't turn off right away. It takes like 10-15 seconds before it shuts off then other 5-7 seconds for the face plate folds in. It almost sounds like I have a short somewhere.

 

Well after doing some research and looking around I have noticed some things. First, the fuse for the radio in the fuse box is a 30amp fuse. Its supposed to be a 10amp. Second someone plugged a power inverter into the cig lighter for power and tried using a power drill. I'm still trying to find out who did this. So I'm guessing whoever plugged in that drill with the power inverter popped the cig fuse and thats why one wasn't plugged in. Even still the cig fuse popped I replaced it still doesnt answer why my stereo takes nearly 1 minute to turn off and fold into the dash. I was told to replace the ignition switch fuse under the hood. Its a 40 amp male bent prongs that screw in. If that fuse is messed up even though it still works can cause the radio not to turn off right away. My buddy said that maybe since the radio fuse had a bigger fuse maybe that should have popped as well when whoever plugged in that drill with the power inverter, but instead it messed up your ignition switch fuse under the hood. IDK its a start. That fuse is cheap. I've checked everything else.

 

have you pulled the deck out to see how its installed? did the previous owner use one of the nice harness adapters or did he manually hack and slice into the stock harness? if you take it out to look can you take a pic of the wiring?

i dont have a 99-2000 helms anymore i sold it with my car but the 96-98 shows two fuses related to the stereo system one 10 am under dash, one 7.5 amp under hood in engine bay. but from what im seeing in this book is that neither of those are supposed to be connected with the lighter socket. i couldt find a wiring diagram that included the cig lighter though. does anyone know if it would be called something else in the manuals?

and try plugging some 12v device into the cig lighter when you shut off the car does the cig lighter lose power immediately, stay on permanently or keep power the same length of time the deck is on then shut off?

 

The cig lighter is labled as a accessory socket in my manual. fuse #27 under the dash its a 10amp fuse. The 7.5amp under the hood is labeled as a back up radio in the manual. I've replaced both of them. I wanna see the cig lighter diagram but I can't find one.

 

I will check on the other stuff tomorrow. Another thing I noticed is the Battery and ignition fuses are black or burned. I will get those replaced tomorrow.

 

ok, i still couldn't fine any wiring diagrams but like i said my book is the prior gen anyhow but im going out of town tomorrow so wont be able to reply but what my thought was is that maybe if they had that inverter in the socket like you said and it wasnt getting enough power, perhaps they spliced another power wire like the stereo power to the cig socket. if the cig socket stays powered the same length of time as the deck look for some custom splicing around there. any pics you could get of the wires may help if thats not the case. good luck.

 

I took everything apart and the stereo connections are very nicely done. I didn't see any splices. The main power for the stereo goes to that ignition switch and battery. Both of those fuses are burnt very badly. My replacements fuses wont be here until tomorrow. I don't have anywhere diagrams so I'm just guessing where everything is going. I've replaced the improper fuses with the correct ones. Just waiting on the ignition and battery fuses and see what happens. I pulled apart the cig socket and didn't see any splices there either. Just the 2 wires on the back. I tried following the wires but I didn't feel like ripping apart the entire dash portion. I'm assuming that the cig lighter goes through the ignition and battery switches. When the car is off the cig lighter doesnt work, but when the key is turned to the on position the cig lighter works. That means its getting power from the battery...I think. With those 2 fuses under the hood (Ignition and Battery) being badly burnt that could be my issue.

 

I replaced the 40 and 80 amp fuses under the hood and it didn't resolve my problem. Since I can't find any diagrams that I need I bought a Haynes Manual and they have all the diagrams I need. After looking at the other fuses in the dash there is a lot of wrong ones, and not just the the ones I was working on. I see a lot of 10amp fuses and some of those 10amps are supposed to 7.5 amps. I bought a fuse tester and I am going to test every single fuse in that car and replace the incorrect ones. Since its raining here in Seattle where I'm from I'll do this tomorrow or Monday.

 

Honestly, I don't see a problem.

The accessory socket power wire runs through the dash fuse box via fuse 27 to the ignition switch.

 

I've been looking for this, Thanks. Maybe you can help me. As in my prior replies someone plugged a 500 watt power drill into the cig lighter for power. It popped the cig lighter, so the problem is when I replaced the cig lighter fuse it works, but now the radio takes like 30-40 seconds to turn off and fold into the dash when I turn the car off and pull the key out. It wasnt doing that before, I would turn car off the radio turns off folds into dash in like 3-5 seconds. I dont understand why there is a time differance. I have to pull the cig fuse out in order to get the radio to turn off when I turn the car off. I don't think there is a short I think maybe another blown fuse maybe. This is really frustrating because its driving me crazy.

 

Do you have a multimeter?

Does the folding delay only occur when you have a device plugged into the accessory socket?

 

Yes, but not a device just a new fuse being plugged in causes the delay. i pull the cig fuse out and the folding delay goes back to the 3-5 sec. I do have a multi meter.

 

Turn key off.
Remove dash fuse 27.
Leave accessory socket connected to its power and ground wires.

What is the Ohm reading on the multimeter when you touch one meter probe to the Yel/Grn wire and the other meter probe to the metal frame under the dash?

 

I'll let you know tomorrow. The car is being detailed.

 

I get 0 ohms. Car was off fuse was removed no key in the ignition. Touched one probe to the YEL/GRN wire and the other probe I grounded to the frame of the car under the dash.

 

Congrats. You succeeded in finding the problem. The accessory socket power wire or dash fuse box has a short to ground.

 

That makes sense. If the dash fuse box has a short to ground wouldn't everything in the car be acting up. Isn't the fuse box under the hood and under dash fuse box grounded together. There is 2 ground wires coming off the under hood dash fuse box. I guess I could just replace those and I should be Ok, or if they are not grounded together I will have to find where the under dash fuse box ground wire is and just put in another one...if that's the issue.

 

To further pinpoint the short to ground, redo the same test except with the accessory socket disconnected from its power and ground wires.

Post a picture of the Ohm reading you see on your multimeter while testing the Yel/Grn wire for a short to ground.

 

Ok. I'll do that in a little while. I see where this going. If I get a Ohm reading by doing that then the actual power socket is bad. If I dont't get a reading then its some thing else. If that happens I'm going to disconnect the battery negative cable, and take a tester light with a alligator clip. I'll connect the alligator clip to cable and touch the probe the the negative battery terminal. If the tester light lights up then I have a short issue. From that point I'll start pulling fuses until the tester light goes out. Identify the fuse and fix whatever the issue is.

 

Was the test reading on the multimeter 0 Ohms or OL?

The first is a low Ohm reading indicating a short to ground. The second is infinite resistance indicating the absence of a short to ground.

 

OL on Both. I plugged the fuse back in and I got 4.7ish Ohms. I don't have any diagrams on this circuit so I dont know what I'm looking for. I talked to a buddy of mine and he's gonna get me the wiring diagram for that entire car. I explained the issue I was having and he thinks I have another blown fuse somewhere. I only tested a couple of fuses. I've been taking stuff apart so I haven't gotten to all the fuses yet. He told me I'm doing it backwards. He said very first thing to do is check every single fuse in that car. He said that car had a lot of wrong fuses, so that in itself is a issue. He said for future reference never ever put a higher amp fuse than it calls for. I told him I just checked related fuses and didn't know I was supposed to check all the fuses. So I'm going to do that tomorrow first. Check every single fuse to make sure everything works.

 

What position was the key in [OFF, ON(I), ON(II), or ON(III)] when you got this low Ohm reading?

 

The key wasn't even in the ignition.