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My Accord Climate Control Swap

20K views 36 replies 13 participants last post by  ecuasuave90 
#1 ·
After spending the last year mooching info off of all you guys, here's my first post and first how-to...

After a bunch of reading, last summer I added AC to my '91, but my climate control suffered badly when removing it to add the A/C button to it. After looking at the options, I decided to go with the Accord option. I mostly used the write-up of http://crxcommunity.com/viewtopic.php?t=26741, but I had a couple additions that I feel are useful, so I'll step through what I did.

First off, after seeing what nylumiro24 did in http://crxcommunity.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=17526, I really wanted to create a jumper harness as nylumiro24 did because I really didn't want to cut off the harness plugs on the CRX. I wanted to have something plug-and-play and not hack up the wiring on my baby. However, I didn't want to destroy the stock CRX climate control just in case I wanted to fix it up later. So, after hours of searching at mouser.com, I found the correct harness plugs for this. The cool thing is, there is no minimum... you can buy just 1 plug!

At the junkyard where I got the accord climate control, I cut off about 10 inches of the accord harness also. The accord climate control has 2 plugs: a 8 pin and small green 14 pin. The stock CRX harness has 3 plugs: a 5 pin green, 6 pin white, and 13 pin white, all female.

So, here's the parts I bought from mouser. And check it out! $5.90 +$5 shipping... not bad!


Here's the manufacturer web page for the main harness plug. Click on the View 3D PDF link, it's really cool:
Manufacturer Web Page
And here's what showed up:
A/C and fan plug:

Main Plug

Stabs that fit in plugs:


So, taking the chunk of Accord harness and the wire colors from http://crxcommunity.com/viewtopic.php?t=26741 I connected my new plugs to make my harness jumper.
Here's the in-progress fan plug. I'm jumpering the Blue/red blu/blk to eliminate the dead 5th speed of the accord control. Doing it this way will give you the CRX 4th speed for both the accord 4th and 5th positions. I just used a normal wire crimper to crimp these on. Note that the back crimp crimps on the insulation and the front crimps on the wire itself.


If you look at your CRX fan harness, you will see a grn wire in there. This isn't needed on the new fan plug because it's handled differently with the Accord controls, so you will have a blank hole.
Finished fan plug:



Looking at the back of the fan plug, the wire colors from the accord wires get connected as:
__[-]__
[ 1 2 3 ]
[ 4 5 6 ]

1=Blue/Red & Blue/Black
2=Blue/Wht
3=Blk
4=x
5=Blue/Ylw
6=Blue

Continuing on with the main harness plug. Note in the accord harness there are 2 blu/red wire. One is for the A/C and one for the face/foot button selection. You'll need to get your meter out to figure which one is which. With the harness connected to the climate control and A/C button off, the foot/face switch will have continuity to the blk wire when it is selected. This is the wire to put into this plug. Alternatively, you can search for connectivity with an ohm meter between the 14 pin green plug that goes to the climate control and the two blu/red wires. Looking at the back of the green climate control plug, with the 6 wires at the top and the 8 wires on the bottom, the wire for the main harness plug is connected to pin #5 and the blu/red wire to the green a/c plug is the #9 pin.

In the previous write up, there's also discussion about the 2 grn/wht wires of the CRX harness. This issue goes away with the jumper cable.

Again, from the back:
__________
[ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7]
[ 8 9 10 () 11 12 13]
1=x
2=Lt grn/wht
3=ylw/grn
4=blu/red(from face/foot switch)
5=drk grn/red
6=x
7=blk & lt grn/red
8=x
9=x
10=lt grn/blk
11=blu
12=dk grn/wht
13=x

Finished fan/main plugs:


I couldn't find a stab type plug for the green a/c connector, so the one I ordered is a solder connection. The pinout for this is (looking at the back of the plug with the tab inside the plug up):
[ 1 2 3 4 5 ]
1=YLW/BLK
2=x
3=red/blu (from pin #9 of plug of climate control)
4=red/blk
5=red

Here they all are all done:


And, finally, connected to the new accord control, ready to plug into the CRX harness:


But first, I needed to take care of the silly cable connections. As previously done, I used the CRX mixer. After removing the accord mixer and cutting off the screw posts, I attached the CRX mixer upside down(compared to the accord mixer)with some screws. I drilled a little hole into the plastic and just screwed it in. The other write up has a lot more really good pictures that you should look at also.
One side:

and the other. Also note that I removed the brackets from the bottom of the control:


Before I attached it, I had to grind down the metal knob connector so the accord knob would fit. This is very difficult to get right and mine ended up a bit loose. I may end up using the old CRX mixer knob, but it looks kinda bad.


Now, how to mount it... I wandered around at work looking for some sort of scrap metal that could be bent up to attach it. I ended up using 3 of those metal covers from a computer that you take out when you add a video card or something. Easily bent, but fairly sturdy. I then drilled a small hole in them and just screwed them in. I attached them to the accord plastic with some screws. You need to be a little careful, though, of where the screw is going into. The left side isn't too bad, because there isn't much for the screw to damage, but on the right side, there's some electronics or if you go down further and your screw is too long, the defrost button gets screwed.



As much as I hated to, I had to remove the horizontal piece of metal below the climate control so that I could lower it down enough to get those pain-in-the-butt mixer cables attached. I ended up routing the cables up and over the metal frame, just as in the other write up.
In place:

and all done!


Another note is to make sure you test out the lights on the accord control before you get it all in. 2 of 3 bulbs were burnt out from the junkyard, so I went back to the junkyard to pocket some replacements. 2 of the 3 I grabbed were also out.

I've seen in a couple threads where people were wanting the harness plugs to do something like this, so I just wanted to let all you guys know that it is possible to get them.

Here's all the pics:
All pics
The last benefit of this project was that I was suffering some fairly serious alternator whine that I tried and tried to get rid of. While I was digging around getting the climate control to work, I noticed the whole metal frame of the center console wiggled. There's a 10mm bolt at the bottom that connects this framework to the body. This bolt was loose, so I wasn't getting a good ground. Once I tightened it up, alternator whine gone!
 
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#2 ·
Dude, nice work and really detailed write up! looks great in there, and I think thats the best mount system I have seen anyone use. I had the same loose bolt on my center console when removing the climate control/radio. Found the mount for it in the spare tire holder from the P.O.!
 
#9 ·
If you're looking for the parts that I used, they should show up when you use the following part # in the search at the top of the mouser.com page. Here's some links:
571-171897-1 (fan connecter)http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail...FPumu524fVUO2CCOjGuuOLe4NWoBkeN84H9PHCL32sA==
571-170340-3 (pins) http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail...0340-3/?qs=sGAEpiMZZMv%2bkWzvOmGqmoJZlLm6Qk9o

571-172508-1 (button connector) http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail...=sGAEpiMZZMvlX3nhDDO4AIeO8H4MbmW33mvdwLLO46g=
571-172777-1 (pins) http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail...iMZZMs%2bGHln7q6pm4Fqf7MuBHLTu%2b52%2btlEWNI=

656-IL-AG5-5P-S3L2 (AC Conn) http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail...N8lsHkxHfhJucDy%2b30tqPmynN2TxhFJ0z%2bIJhX0Kn

It took awhile for me to find these initially, so if you're looking for different harness connectors it will definitely take some searching.
 
#11 ·
Super impressed at the jumper harness you made. Are those plugs just generic or are they made to replicate honda ones? Also really like the way you mounted it. I just notched the plastic tabs on the bottom of mine to get it to sit close then used zip ties to the top tabs. Mine is pretty solid for now but if I take it back out in the future I'm definitely doing it your way. :)b
 
#13 ·
another question, are all the 90-93 climate control wiring the same throughout the whole generation? or, do they differ? someone had told me that they were different but I don't see why they would change it up since Honda back in the day never changed much, if there were changes, they were subtle changes.
 
#15 ·
rex-b16a said:
Super impressed at the jumper harness you made. Are those plugs just generic or are they made to replicate honda ones?
You'll be shocked to find out (I was) that manufacturers don't make all the little parts for their cars. Everything from plug harnesses to VTEC solenoids, intake manifolds, charcoal canisters, climate control and dash pieces etc etc etc are sourced from outside companies. I was aware of Nissin, Nippon Denso etc but my head just about exploded when I saw VTEC solenoids were made by a non Honda company, being that they were function specific.
 
#16 ·
kcjohnnyboy said:
another question, are all the 90-93 climate control wiring the same throughout the whole generation? or, do they differ? someone had told me that they were different but I don't see why they would change it up since Honda back in the day never changed much, if there were changes, they were subtle changes.
The wiring diagrams on autozone (http://www.autozone.com/repairinfo/repairguide/repairGuideContent.jsp?pageId=0900c1528005f9fc) have a different one for 90-92 vs 93, but I didn't look at how they were different, so there might be some changes with a 93.
 
#17 ·
rex-b16a said:
Super impressed at the jumper harness you made. Are those plugs just generic or are they made to replicate honda ones? Also really like the way you mounted it. I just notched the plastic tabs on the bottom of mine to get it to sit close then used zip ties to the top tabs. Mine is pretty solid for now but if I take it back out in the future I'm definitely doing it your way. :)b
NovaVTEC said:
how did you find the correct part # in the first place? :)b
I figured that they were some sort of a standard connector so I kept looking through all the parts on mouser.com for hours until I found them.
 
#20 ·
Yes, no diagram or order for the green plug???

I'm also running into a problem with the two Red/Blue wires, were you said to ohm between the black and the Red/Blue wires to find the right one. With AC button off and Foot/Face switch pressed, neither of the Red/Blue wire ohm out (no connection). Right now there is a 50/50 toss up of if it is the wire issue or that the AC controller is bad.
 
#21 ·
Yes, no diagram or order for the green plug???

I'm also running into a problem with the two Red/Blue wires, were you said to ohm between the black and the Red/Blue wires to find the right one. With AC button off and Foot/Face switch pressed, neither of the Red/Blue wire ohm out (no connection). Right now there is a 50/50 toss up of if it is the wire issue or that the AC controller is bad.
 
#22 ·
Ok, I cracked the code for the small green plug.

I don't have pictures yet, but here is the order in ref to the finished picture above that just show the three finished plugs. This is with the pin side facing down. If you have the plug you will know what this means (one side has a pin and the other shown does not)

First one on left is RED/Silver Dots
Second one is RED/Black stripe
Third one is BLUE/RED
Fourth pin SKIP(Open)
Fifth one is YELLOW/Black stripe

Now, here is the kicker (not tested yet) but the BLUE/RED is the "other" blue/red from the other plug.

(Not tested yet, but...) what I pulled together is if you look at your Green Accord plug with 14 wires w/ the side with the wires coming out and the tab on the top (or the 6 wires on the top row) and count left to right across the top where the first one on the top left is #1 (Black Wire) #2 (Lt Green/Silver) #3 (Lt Green/Black) and so on, then the #5 (Blue/Red) goes to the main plug and the #9 (Blue/Red) on the bottom row goes to the small green jumper plug (above).

After I put all the wire in the Main plug, and seen what was left over (RED/Silver dots, RED/Black, BLUE/RED, and YELLOW/Black) then looked back at the picture that was posted...... then it was clear where they went.
 
#24 ·
Sorry about the missing pinout info for the green a/c plug. I'm not sure why I didn't include the pin info for the blu/red once I determined the correct one for the green plug. I went out and confirmed what you found... the blu/red for the green a/c plug is connected to the #9 position of the green accord main plug. I've updated the writeup to reflect this.
 
#26 ·
One note for the next person ordering parts for this plug & play conversion.

Part number: 170340-3 only 5 are needed/used for the fan plug (you might want to order 6 to cover for a mistake). Current price 0.15 cents ea. from Mouser.

Part number: 172777-1 only 8 used for the switch plug. Here again order more to cover for mistakes, but not 15.

My total (2016) cost was about $17.72, coming from Mouser and Digi-Key.
 
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