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Attempted radio installation

2K views 2 replies 3 participants last post by  cakley 
#1 ·
I got my new Insight yesterday morning. I spent most of the afternoon soldering the wiring harness that fits the car to the two harnesses that fit the Blaupunkt "New Orleans" radio/mini-disk player I got at Crutchfield. I'm not extremely experienced at soldering, but I know to heat the wire, not the solder and melt the solder with the wire, not the iron.

I'd use miniature clamps to clamp each wire to a small block of wood, push the braided wires into each other to mix the bunched wires, press the 30watt iron against the wires, wait a few seconds, then melt solder on either side of the soldering iron, not touching the iron itself with the solder. I covered the wires with shrink-tubing or electric tape. A couple places, the wire heated enough to melt the insulation under the clamp so wire was exposed. In this case, I'd cover this new exposed metal with the shrink tape and use electric tape over the joined wires. I think I do a good job, if a slow one.

I checked continuity on all the wires on the harness and I connected everything except the auto-antenna power, since the Insight doesn't have a powered antenna.

Replacing the speakers was a piece of cake. The new Pioneers, recommended here, look much better than the old ones, but to be honest, I don't hear an improvement. If anything, I hear less bass. I think I can adjust volume and EQ enough to compensate, but I must say, I was disappointed when I tuned in a classical station with a new speaker on the right and an old one on the left. The left sounded better.

Removing the old radio was very easy. Two screws and the glove compartment dropped, revealing two screws holding the cowling around the radio. Pull to pop the spring clips and disconnect the non-cigarette-lighter 12-volt "accessory" port. Four easily accessible screws removed the old radio.

It took less time to do all this than it took to get the stuck wiring harness plug out of the back of the radio.

About this time, I realized that the rectangular mounting ring for the new radio was useless. There was nothing there to attach it to. There were holes in the right place in the new radio housing to put the same Honda brackets on the side of the new radio, but the holes were slightly undersized and unthreaded. I went to Crutchfield. They were no help.

I went to Sears and a guy there went to some trouble to figure out what tap I needed to thread the holes. Good service.

Threading the right side was easy. On the left side, the tap hit a heat sink inside the case before it finished cutting the threads. I only partly threaded these holes, but I could force the screws in and they didn't go in far enough to hit the heat sink.

I plugged everything in and... nothing. Not so much as a flicker on the display. It was as if the radio was getting no power. The engine was running and the radio display was blank. I got continuity across the 10amp fuse in the back of the radio, and when I reinstalled the old radio, it worked fine.

Either I've screwed up the harness, or the radio itself is dead. I don't have a way of testing the radio. I'm not happy.

I'll take the radio and harness back to Crutchfield and see if they'll be more helpful this time. I'd rather have the radio working in the car than get my money back. I'll report how this all works out.
 
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#2 ·
"...when I tuned in a classical station with a new speaker on the right and an old one on the left. The left sounded better."

Hummm... Speakers optimized for different sorts of music, maybe? (Or if I can be honest, music vs annoying noise :) )

It's good to know, anyway. Been thinking about putting in a CD player, and maybe new speakers, or adding the rear ones. Not changing the front would save a few bucks...
 
#3 ·
Next time try not using solder. I've installed several radio's and I always use wire nuts. Its super easy to do and undo. I can wire it up in a few minutes turn it on and check all speakers. Once all is checked I then install the radio.


It been about 2 years but I had the same problem with the bracket. I just dug through my tool box and found some screws that fit the radio and honda brakcet. Just becareful and not use a long bolt that will short out the radio.
 
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