Alright, so I've had my 97 EX Sedan for about a year now and I'm just getting around to installing my head unit from my old car (Xplod CDX-F7000). Yes I know once i remove the stock receiver my keyless entry won't work anymore and I need to stash it behind the dash. I've been reading over past threads on HAN and looking at installdr.

From HAN threads I learned to buy a T-harness from Best Buy or Circuit City, and installdr basically told me to rig my own T using a reverse harness. Problem is that I can't find any place that has a pre-made T-harness or a reverse harness in stock (and I don't exactly feel like paying for one either).

I want to hook the white standard harness to the new unit and the 2 green security harnesses to the OEM unit. Then I want to splice 2 or 3 wires (only those I need to make keyless entry work) off of the standard harness and rig some way to hook them to their correct pins on the back of the OEM unit. I think I'll be able to figure out which pin is which on the OEM from looking at the harness.

Questions:
1. Has anyone ever done it like this before?

2. How many and which wires do you think I'll need to send to the OEM unit? I'm assuming only 3 (red - Ignition/Acc , yellow - Batt/Memory, black - ground) do you know of any others i'd need? In my Haynes manual wiring diagram it seems like I may also need to splice a red and a red/black wire off the harness too? In the book they are marked "interior lights" and I'm not sure which of the 3 harnesses they will be on.

3. Does anyone know where to buy or how to rig up a good wire terminal for connecting to single pins on the OEM unit?

4. Is it common for the OEM head unit to have the security control unit piggy-backed on it? I was under the impression that it was just one unit until I pulled it out of the dash.


While I was buying a miniplug to RCA y-adapter at the car audio place (after they didn't have a T or reverse harness), i explained the situation to the guy and I think he said that he never even had to stash the factory receiver when installing on a 97.... maybe he's only worked on ones w/o keyless entry?:shrug:

5. For anyone that has previously installed an aftermarket head and hid the OEM behind the dash: What about the Program/Disarm/Valet button on the OEM faceplate? Did you do anything to make it accessible without ripping the dash apart again? Mine has had problems in the past where it reprograms itself (so my remotes don't work), unlocks the doors, turns my car into a rave with the dome light and then activates the alarm as soon as I open one of the unlocked doors. It hasn't done it in a couple months now, but i want to keep that button accessible in case my alarm goes off or else my neighbors will be pissed.

Thanks so much, please send some suggestions!:bowdown: