Crack'n the Dash on the 08' CRV...

OK, I thought I could find this info anywhere on the web as Honda's are so popular. Well I couldn't so I took some extra time to shoot a few of the basic of this install.

Today I'm installing An Eclipse Double Din with, GPS, Sirius, and a Parrot Blue tooth, because some how Eclipse had yet to have their own interface.

You can view all my pages for free, but if you'd like to print them:

Admittedly I have retired from the install business but from time to time an old customer, friend or family member ask or I offer if I'm interested....

Today this one is for my brother-in-law and I offered assuming I could find all my short cuts on the web...

There are plenty of sites to get you wiring info and you can also purchase a harness as I did, and found it was the wrong harness as it had a few wires crossed that kept blowing a fuse under the hood. So what I'm saying is find your exact model and a reputable source, or get professional help that has the tools and knowledge to use them properly.

Honda's are typically very well designed and obvious to take apart but I had a little trouble with this one initially...

[In this photo I have already removed the vents, however you need to remove the plate forward of them first. ~ I removed the vents so you could clearly see the slots the center dash plate angularly snaps into.]

Just above the radio forward on the dash there was a plain black panel, that goes up to the windshield. I tried popping this panel initially but met some resistance. After wasting a lot of time trying to find other ways to get to the radio I found my way back here and just had to apply some more 'influence' to the panel.

From the angle of the shots you can see this panel should pull up and towards you. I did this easily by just grabbing it but if you have to use a tool be careful not to damage the surrounding panels by prying to hard or put something between the two pieces to help minimize damage. Here is a tool I recommend to help with this - Amazon Link -

Next we'll remove the vents in a similar yet easier fashion as you'll be able to grab this now. You can just flip this out of the way and probably scratch or damage it or something else, but it only takes a second to unclip the 'Hazard' light button.

[In this photo you can see the slots the A/C control snaps into, two in the radio assembly and two in the dash. I also removed the bezel around the shifter so it wouldn't be scratched and part of my exploratory surgery, however this is not necessary ]

The lower gauge assembly removes in a similar fashion, simply get a good hold of the knobs and pull... (Below the slots are pointed out in red and the radio mounting screws in blue, you can more clearly see the top radio screws in the second photo of this page.

I removed the A/C control and unplugged it, this is just good practice so nothing gets damaged or scratched. If these type of components are a pain to remove I'll tape them up in painters tape or the like.

Here you are, the entire factory radio assembly.

You have three bolts on either side, 2 from the radio and 1 from the pocket. Most of you will probably go for an aftermarket dash kit, radio harness and antennae adapter, to complete the job.

Some of you may wish to adapt the factory frame depending on the radio you are using. The Eclipse double din I was putting was too small for the opening so I used some bondo to make a custom frame using this piece as my staring point. In another sheet I will demonstrate how to use bondo to make your own custom dash kits.....

....For this particular install I found some flat black rustoleum spray paint with a light texture, over that I used another regular flat black paint, and then a semi-gloss clear. It matched the factory color and texture nearly perfect. If you have a good auto body supply you can probably get a closer match, but most people didn't and wouldn't notice.

For this install my camera also ran out of battery power. I ran the satellite antennae up the driver 'A' pillar and the GPS antennae up the passenger side. Each was routed around that useless triangle glass forward of the mirrors and along the fender seems. Then I like to tuck the wire under the rubber windshield trim and pop out just on the roof line.

The parrot blue tooth adapter was installed just to the right of the steering wheel, to the small knockout panel normally used for an option this model didn't have. I reworded the parrot display by separating it and routing the wire through the back instead of the bottom, then I drilled a hole in that panel for the wires and 2 small holes to mount the display. It mounted well and although the location wasn't ideal for reason of poor visibility, it turned out very clean and otherwise easy to reach, with no damage to any of the main dash pieces.

Notes:

The harness I used was a generic Honda model and I should have tested the wire colors before installing, but found the a few of the wires didn't match the labeling of the harness. So make sure you have a model specific harness, or test your wires accordingly. This would have saved me about an hour worth of trouble shooting, and if I remember correctly it was tied somehow indirectly to the reverse light fuse under the hood, which I would have never guessed and neglected testing until I ran out of options...