Installing Steering Wheel Radio Controls in LX Sedan

[olecram39]

Ever since i bought my car with 60000 miles on it the light on the screen has been out. I called honda and they said they wouldnt fix it because the bulletin mentioned here http://elitecm.net/forums/index.php?topic=186.0 is only for the 03-04 accords and mine is an 05 but ive been dealing with this for a while so no biggie.

The real problem is that now my radio is just randomly just shutting completely off, no clock no nothing screen goes entirely blank and no music comes out NOTHING! I found out that in order to fix it was unplug the negative terminal of the battery a few times and it will start working fine again. This is getting annoying since sometimes im just driving down the road listening to a good song and the radio just shuts off, pulling over on  the spot can sometimes be dangerous and time consuming so i decided i need a new radio.

Since i need a new radio anyway i wanted to upgrade to a 6 disc headunit and add the steering wheel controls that the LX does not have. Im making this thread to get some help in achieving this and so that it can help other LX owners in the future to do this mod.

This is what i know so far:

1. The LX radio is single climate so the replacement 6 disc radio has to be single climate as well.
2. The replacement radio has to come from a sedan since the coupe radio has a different color lighting on the buttons.
3. The Steering wheel radio controls will not work with a single disc radio since the wiring for the controls is non-existent.

This is what i have purchased so far. Still in the process of finding a single climate 6 disc radio at a junkyard since the ones on ebay are around $300.
I got the button and the and the wiring for the outrageous price of $7.50 from a U-Pick Junk Yard.








Any input in this adventure will be greatly appreciated.

[olecram39]

Today i took my airbag out so look more closely at things. Here is what i found.


The red arrow points at my current connector (05 LX), the blue one points at the connector that came from the 03 EX. The green and red wire and the brown on the connector on the left are the wires that go to the radio controls.



The plug that is IN the steering wheel is full of pins, which makes me think that the wiring harness that goes to the radio has the wires needed for the radio controls already.




My idea is moving the two cables from the EX harnes to my original harness to their equivalent positions. Like this:



Then finally replacing the head unit with a 7bc1 or 7bc2 which can actually interpret the steering wheel control signals should do the trick and make it work.

Right? Thoughts?

[gargantula99]

That's a crazy amount of work. Good luck Marcelo. Wish I had some insight here to give you.

[Pascal]

You would need to confirm with the pinout diagram of the black plug. It sure makes sense but it still could be for anything else as 05's are slightly different of the 03's. Do you also have some sort of grid that tell what radio number corresponds at what year/model it came from. For example looking for the 180w Premium audio one (the one that only came in v6 6mt coupes) for my 03 EX-L

[olecram39]

That's a crazy amount of work. Good luck Marcelo. Wish I had some insight here to give you.

Haha thanks Nelson. It will all get a simpler once i have the 6 disc radio and i can actually try things out, or at least i hope it does.

You would need to confirm with the pinout diagram of the black plug. It sure makes sense but it still could be for anything else as 05's are slightly different of the 03's. Do you also have some sort of grid that tell what radio number corresponds at what year/model it came from. For example looking for the 180w Premium audio one (the one that only came in v6 6mt coupes) for my 03 EX-L

Good point, do you where i can get a diagram like that? And no man sorry i dont, i got those numbers from a fellow forum member, i saw he had a single climate 6 disc unit in a picture and i just asked him for the number on his radio.

[ikethegreat]

Try looking here for the diagram:

http://techinfo.honda.com/rjanisis/content/rjxa_isisviewer_ui.aspx?content=svg.svg&k=ac0305content_0001&p=EM&t=V

Other Accord service and electrical manuals from Honda's official Service Express site:

http://www.driveaccord.net/forums/showthread.php?t=174946

[timot_one]

I have the electrical service manual if you need help with it.  This is something I'm interested in, because I'd like to be able to add the steering wheel controls to my car. 

Hit me up if you want my number.  I'll do whatever I can to help you out with this.  Also, look into Beaver's Auto Salvage for parts.  They're a Honda/Acura specific yard and have been able to help me out with a bunch of parts.  I actually got the wiring for my Hybrid Accord EPS conversion.

[olecram39]

Thanks Ike and Tim for the very useful info. I did some digging and this is what i found.





As you can see, it says Except USA DX, LX. But except for the Audio System (what we want to add) and the Navigation wires, everything else is the same.


I wasn't able to find this diagram especifically for the USA 05 LX L4. Also i wasnt able to find the diagram for the male part of this plug, the one that is ON the steering column to see if where it says Audio System there is actually  wires running to the radio.

[olecram39]

Took the cover of the steering column off to check the wires that come out of the cable reel. This is what i found.

The white connector is the one that comes from the rear of the cable reel and takes the signals from the steering wheel controls to the radio and cruise control.





Connector before cable reel. (inside steering wheel)


Connector after cable reel (behind steering wheel)


From this i saw that the steering wheel radio controls are not pre wired.

Next what i did was, i went back to the junk yard to take a look at the wiring of the 2003 EX i got the radio controls from.

The two wires circled are the radio control wires from the back of the cable reel on the 03 ex.


This is the the other end of the cables shown above in the plug that connects to the back of the radio.



Based on all this, i think that if i use the steering wheel controls wiring harness i got from the junkyard  for parts and add the two wires to the plug that comes out of the back of the cable reel and run the wires to the plug that goes to the radio and use a 6 disc radio from a sedan it will work.

[olecram39]

I already order the 6 disc head unit with the single climate control so hopefully by next Monday we will know if this works.

[Pascal]

Hope for you this will work ! It it does, you'll love your steering controls !

[olecram39]

Later today I will post an update, the radio is coming early. It will be here today I'm on the lookout for the mailman now

[olecram39]

Its here!



Lets see if this works, Fingers crossed!

[olecram39]

IT WORKS!!


http://youtu.be/AFIUoiFJvuk


Just for the record, the differences between the 6 disc single climate unit and the single disc single climate.

[Nit3h4wk C0uP3]

Victory!!! Congrats sir!!!