i have a 97 honda civic ex and it has an aftermarket radio. which i understand it to mean that i cannot use the originalremote to unlock the car. is there any way whatsoever to trick the car into thinking that there is a radio in thecar? or shorting something out, or putting a jumper on something so that my remote will work? also, along the same lines, can i get the unlock to work with a remote from another honda civic 97, but reprogram the remote or the unlock module in the car?

 

What do you mean "unlock the car"?
Do you mean to say that just cause there isan aftermarket radio in the car, that your own remote will not work to unlock your car?
That's a new one. I have installed aftermarket radios intocivics as well as one in my owncivic and that was not even an issue.
Where did you hear something like that from?

 

The keyless entry for 96-98 civics is tied into the stock radio.That's how the signal is transmitted. Once you take out the stock radio, the only way to have keyless entry is to either A) find a working stock radio from either a junkyard or ebay and install it somewhere in your dash (you have to hook the power up to it, but you don't have to hook it up to the speakers if you still want to use your aftermarket deck). B) buy and install yourself or have someone install an aftermarket keyless entry system or C) I believe you can get a control box from a 99-00 civic which is how their keyless entry was wired up..

Those are your only options.There's really no way to "Trick" the car into thinking your car has the stock radio in it.

 

That's what the previous owner of my car did. I didn't even knew about it until one day I was installing some wires and I felt a big thing that was lose behind the dash[&:]

 

i have an aftermarket radio, and my remote still works...

 

You have to find an aftermarket harness thats designed for that civic. My car is a 99 and it has two harnesses connected in the back so i dont need to have the stock radio shoved in there

 

yeah, the right harness would be a winner

 

What harness were you using to begin with?
Or what is installed now?
I'm not really sure I understand all this. I used to work at audio express and i dont remember us ever running into a problem like that.

 

He wants his factory keyless entry to work (which was a stock option on the Lx and Ex models).

From 96-98 Honda had the factory keyless entry tied into the stock radio, newer civics from 99- to present are wired differently and do not require that the stock radio still be installed. The only way the remote he has (which is stock) will work is if he has a 96-98 stock radio installed and powed up, otherwise there is no way for the signal to be transmitted. So since he has an aftermarket cd player installed, he no longer has a way to transmit the signal using the stock keyless entry.

I explained his options before.

 

Another option is to have an aftermarket installed. Circuit City has a remote start/keyless entry for $199 installed.

When I bought my 97 Civic it had an aftermarket stereo. There was also a little black antenna on the windshield right behind the rear view mirror. I asked my friend what it was for and he said it was for a satellite radio that the previous owner must have had in the car.
It didn't come with a remote for the keyless entry so I drove it like that for 2.5 years.

A couple of months ago I was looking at remote starters on Circuit City's website and saw the same black antenna in one of their kits. They took a look at my car and it turns out that I had an aftermarket remote start/keyless entry already installed. I just had to buy the remote for $49 and I was all set.