Hi all, new to this posting board.

I just bought my first car, a 97 Civic CXi. I'm in Australia, not sure what the the overseas equivalent is, I would guess the CX. It's 1.6L non power windows or doors, pretty much entry level and no major mods (yet!).

My question is: I'm about to get a new head unit (amongst other things) put in and I read that the Honda factory central locking has electrical connections to the stock radio unit (it's a tape deck in mine *shudder*). Is this true?

I'm not sure if this affects me anyway, because my car was only key entry from the factory and I've just had an alarm system fitted, which connects to the central locking system I got put in at the same time. I expect the aftermarket central locking doesn't know or care about the radio... but just in case, I thought I'd ask the experts...

Do I need to tell the audio installers anything like "I've got central locking, it's connected to the radio..." or.. it's not a concern? I've seen sites which talk about keeping the stock radio in behind the dashboard and splicing the wires off to the new head unit, so the factory central locking still works.

Thanks for your help in advance!

 

An aftermarket alarm shouldn't affect your radio one bit. Whether the 96-98 civics have any radio security, I don't know, but I doubt it. If you're having the radio installed professionally, don't worry about telling them about your alarm.

 

when you get the new headunit you will have to either hide the old headunit somewhere in the dash, or isolate the doorlocks & keyless/alarm module and run the proper wiring harness. if you don't tell them, and they don't know what they are doing you'll have problems. i know plenty of people who have taken their civics to circuit city in the states and they weren't aware of this despite the fact it is common knowledge to the honda/acura world

 

does this apply to models that have a remote lock/unlock keychain thingy with a panic button? i sure as hell hope not, cause i don't want to have to deal with that. i have an 03 sedan.

 

It shouldn't. As far as I know only 6th gens have this problem. Did a quick search and nothing came up for 03 Civic Sedan but for a 97: "Because of the factory keyless entry system in your vehicle, you will need to keep the factory radio in the vehicle and relocate it behind the dash."

 

guess i got lucky then