I bought a new cd player for my old work car(1989 honda accord lxi) and I have come to find that the plug is bad on the wire harness. I have looked every were on the net to try and find the color codes so I can just cut the wires and hook it up the old fashioned way but every were I look wants 20 bucks and up for the diagrams.....

Anyone know were I can find the info I need without having to shell out cash for something I will only use once?

There are repair books called Haynes, they are for do-it-yourself repairs for every make and model of vehicle and extremely handy and easy to use. They cost about 30$ and are worth it if you do any minor work yourself. I think public libraries even carry them, you may want to check.

You might even be able to browse thru or even borrow a copy of the Haynes manual from your local Autozone or Napa.

I've been searching, only thing I can find is this

http://www.hondaautomotiveparts.com/...artsSearch.jsp

Might want to go through the steps, it apparently gives you diagrams at the end

There's also a dedicated Honda accord 1976-1989 thread here

http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/direct/view/.efdf91a/0
Might be worth asking in there

Ok hrm, i've got a file downloaded called "1986-1989 Honda Accord Sedan Shop Manual.pdf"

Would that be what you'd need?
I don't know anything about cars, heh

It's got an electrical diagram section for Engine Electrical and Body Electrical.

If you do not have a manual, here is what you do, generally there is an ACC wire, a BATT wire, a ground wire, blue Control wire, and 8 speaker wires.

Get a meter, and test to ground which one has 12 volts, this will be your BATT wire,

Turn on the car, and the other one that comes on with 12 volts, this is your ACC wire, unless it is blue, then that is for control to your amp if you have one or want to install one

The black wire is ground

The multi color wires, example.. brown with grey stripe, those are your speaker wires.

Go to the speakers and write down which wires are attached to them, they are always colored similar, like rear left speaker will both have a grey stripe or something. The one with the big terminal I believe is the ground.

Make sure to write these down so when you go to hook em up to the stereo you remember which is which.

Hope that kinda generic process helped.. I have installed many a stereos over the years and those are just off the top of my head. Most of em will be different on particular models, but the general scheme stays the same..

Actually thats the problem, the ground wire isnt black and the power wire isnt red, They are odd colors in the sucker.

BTW thanks for the help everyone

Well to tell which is the ground, just stick one lead on the body somewhere where you get a good connection, and test the wires out 1 by 1, whichever one beeps at you, thats ground. Make sure your meter is on the Ohm setting.

Power wires are all different colors by vehicle, this is why you need a meter to tell which is ACC and which one is BATT

As long as there is a bit of slack, Id just grab another harness from a junk yard. That way everything is color-coded to factory and then you can just buy an aftermarket female to hook up to the new deck. There have to be a bunch of cracked up Hondas in the bone yard...


This one ( Greenleaf ) is enormous and itd probably be peanuts to ship to ya if you cant find one closer...

If that doesnt work out you can always just tap into the fuse box (any fuse that doesnt work when the car is off is good for the ACC wire) and run a constant power and ground wire from the radio straight to the battery. Hondas usually have a firewll with a great deal of holes to toss wires through...

For some reasonm the plug is bad so the females arnt working. Thats why I am having to tap into the wires. I guess I will make the trip tyo walmart to pick up a Ohm meter, I had actually not even thought of that heh.