First post here looking for guidance because everywhere else is not helping. So I just bought a 98civic ex sedan, the radio worked but the volume dial didn’t and was stuck at 2. So I chose to replace it. I didn’t realize that you could buy the harness adapters at any auto parts store and like a moron I decided to cut the old harness and hard wire the new radio harness in. I however still being a moron cut the old harness without disconnecting the battery, this blew the 7.5 A fuse in the engine bay. I wired up the new harness matching everything to the diagram red/yellow switched and blue/white constant and black ground. After wiring everything together and plugging it into the new radio the new radio didn’t turn on. I checked the fuse in the engine bay and it was blown so I replaced it with the interior light fuse (same type) and still nothing. So I checked the fuse-box under the steering wheel and pulled the 15 A fuse and it looked fine. Every where online is telling me it’s a fuse issue or a short somewhere but I’m really lost. I got a multimeter however stated before I am not the most intelligent so I don’t know how it works. I took it to a guy I know who used to run a radio store and he suggested it could possibly be the security connector, so I wired the old radio back in slightly and just constant and ground and plugged in the security connection and nothing the old one didn’t turn back on. So I’m at a loss. I didn’t get the 15 amp tested but it appears fine. I know that often times the cigarette lighter fuse can affect the radio but the cigarette lighter works I have a Bluetooth transmitter in there to test it and it lights up. I have also seen people say the instrument cluster fuse can also be connected which I haven’t checked yet but everthing on my dash still lights up (however when I cut the wires my CEL went off) but I’m not quite sure why it’s for an O2 sensor. The only things I can think of is 1 a short witch I’m currently denying, 2 something either the security connector but I’ve read it shouldn’t be, 3 when looking at the wiring harness (on the car side) there are two unused cables 1 red/black dimmer, and one solid red wire. I have no idea what the red wire is and on every wiring diagram I’ve looked at I didn’t see it, every connection to the harness is taped off with electrical tape. I have come up with a solution to my problem that works in my mind however I need someone to tell me its a terrible idea or something because I plan on attempting it this weekend. My plan take the cigarette lighter splice or straight up rewire it to the radio it works in my mind since both are 12v systems and both have constant and switched wires but tell me why this wouldn’t work. I can live without my cigarette lighter however this being my daily id really prefer a radio and I’m tired of having my phone on the dash. All advice is welcome and I apologize if I didn’t make this post the right way.