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506 Posts
For people installing aftermarket stereos, you have to be very careful with those two dimmer/illumination wires (orange/orange-white on aftermarket harnesses).
Sounds like the OP got lucky and blew a fuse. Older Civics didn't have a fuse and would instead fry all kinds of things in the dash if you picked the wrong one.
Double check both wires coming from the body harness. One should give +12v when the parking lights are on (solid orange on my Metra 70-1721 harness). That's usually what you connect to the radio (orange with white stripe on my Kenwood).
The orange w/white stripe "Dimmer" wire on the car harness normally does not connect to anything - especially not the orange-white wire on the radio. This wire's voltage should vary when you press the +/- dimmer buttons on the cluster.
Any wires that you don't use should either be taped off or de-pinned (removed from the harness) to prevent shorts. I concur with the OP's suspicion that a short could have caused his issues.
Sounds like the OP got lucky and blew a fuse. Older Civics didn't have a fuse and would instead fry all kinds of things in the dash if you picked the wrong one.
Double check both wires coming from the body harness. One should give +12v when the parking lights are on (solid orange on my Metra 70-1721 harness). That's usually what you connect to the radio (orange with white stripe on my Kenwood).
The orange w/white stripe "Dimmer" wire on the car harness normally does not connect to anything - especially not the orange-white wire on the radio. This wire's voltage should vary when you press the +/- dimmer buttons on the cluster.
Any wires that you don't use should either be taped off or de-pinned (removed from the harness) to prevent shorts. I concur with the OP's suspicion that a short could have caused his issues.
