1991 NA1 Radio unit not turning on, want bluetooth system anyways

Joined
5 August 2024
Messages
6
Location
California
Hi, I am a very new 1991 NSX RHD owner. I bought it knowing the the radio did not work, so I'm trying to find solutions that aren't going to destroy my wallet. I want to do bluetooth anyways, so fixing the radio is not my biggest concern. The radio does not power on, but the cigarette lighter works still, so I believe they're on the same fuse so i would assume the radio unit is just not working anymore. I'd like to do it myself if possible because I don't know how much a shop is going to cost me to do anything involving installing a bluetooth.
Thank you in advance!
 
Welcome to Prime! Need a few more details to help you start with this. Adding your location and model particulars to your sig and profile will help folks here give more accurate help. Are you JDM RHD or European RHD? Where are you located? Guessing EU based on the time of your post? The radio head units were market specific, and I'm not sure you can just drop in the market-correct unit and have everything work perfectly, even if you could find a unit, which is getting very hard these days.

Start by looking up the exact fuse for your radio and then checking for power at the radio electrical connector to be sure it's not that simple. Without your year & market specifics, I don't know the fuses. You'll need a year-specific electrical service manual before you do any work of this variety. 1997+, the stereo is powered by 3 fuses: Fuse 8 supplies the head unit; fuse 51 supplies the dedicated speaker amplifiers, and fuse 33 (clock) supplies constant power to retain the radio presets. Interestingly, the cigarette lighter is on fuse 15, but the ignition-on relay for it is from Fuse 8 - so if the radio fuse is blown, the cigarette lighter (and radio) won't work, but if the lighter fuse is blown, the radio will still work. Since your lighter works, the radio fuse is fine, if your wiring is the same as 1997+, but there could still be a wiring issue between the fuse and the head unit. With the failure rate of the head units after 30 years, that's the more likely culprit.

JDM radio frequencies won't work in North America anyway, even if repaired. If it was working, you could add bluetooth with a GROM unit, but that would mean finding someone to fix your stock head unit first. If you're in the EU, @Heineken does amazing work. In the US, you'd probably need Wilman's to replace the stereo internals with newer ones, which would include bluetooth. About US$2k? The other option is replacing the head unit with non-OEM, which will also require a new faceplate trim, but be careful, as the wiring to the speakers will need to be changed as well. Also be careful removing the trim, as it's easily damaged and rather expensive.

The other question to assess is your general level of comfort wiring 12V harnesses, and perhaps wiring electrical in general. This won't be plug 'n play and an electrical mixup rewiring things could get VERY expensive, VERY quickly, if you mix up or accidentally short wires. Some components are NLA, so if you damage them, it's quite a pickle. If you damage wiring away from where you're working, that can be very hard to find and often require (expensive) expert intervention.

The NSX uses a less common audio system with pre-amp level outputs from the head unit with integrated amplifiers mounted in the speaker enclosures; thus the wires from the head unit to the speaker boxes are low current and can't handle speaker level current draw. Also don't send speaker outputs from a regular head unit or you'll blow the amps and perhaps the speakers. You'd need to remove the amplifier wiring from the speaker enclosures and wire the speakers directly to your new bluetooth-equipped head unit with appropriately sized wiring.

If all you want is bluetooth, your cheapest and simplest solution is probably a stereo bluetooth speaker. The sound quality won't be great, but the NSX stereo is so-so anyway, especially if you haven't added auxiliary tweeters. The soundtrack is that glorious VTEC engine and the intake sounds! Another option would be a hidden bluetooth receiver wired to the door speakers with the speaker amps bypassed, but you'd be missing the subwoofer and it's audio contribution.

Best,
 
Last edited:
I have my Nsx radio at a local shop in Tampa Fla who is trying to fix my 1993 radio. I will let you know how he is progressing since he only got my radio last week. He seems to think he can do it. I told him the NSX community will be lining up if he is able to fix the unit.
 
Welcome to Prime! Need a few more details to help you start with this. Adding your location and model particulars to your sig and profile will help folks here give more accurate help. Are you JDM RHD or European RHD? Where are you located? Guessing EU based on the time of your post? The radio head units were market specific, and I'm not sure you can just drop in the market-correct unit and have everything work perfectly, even if you could find a unit, which is getting very hard these days.

Start by looking up the exact fuse for your radio and then checking for power at the radio electrical connector to be sure it's not that simple. Without your year & market specifics, I don't know the fuses. You'll need a year-specific electrical service manual before you do any work of this variety. 1997+, the stereo is powered by 3 fuses: Fuse 8 supplies the head unit; fuse 51 supplies the dedicated speaker amplifiers, and fuse 33 (clock) supplies constant power to retain the radio presets. Interestingly, the cigarette lighter is on fuse 15, but the ignition-on relay for it is from Fuse 8 - so if the radio fuse is blown, the cigarette lighter (and radio) won't work, but if the lighter fuse is blown, the radio will still work. Since your lighter works, the radio fuse is fine, if your wiring is the same as 1997+, but there could still be a wiring issue between the fuse and the head unit. With the failure rate of the head units after 30 years, that's the more likely culprit.

JDM radio frequencies won't work in North America anyway, even if repaired. If it was working, you could add bluetooth with a GROM unit, but that would mean finding someone to fix your stock head unit first. If you're in the EU, @Heineken does amazing work. In the US, you'd probably need Wilman's to replace the stereo internals with newer ones, which would include bluetooth. About US$2k? The other option is replacing the head unit with non-OEM, which will also require a new faceplate trim, but be careful, as the wiring to the speakers will need to be changed as well. Also be careful removing the trim, as it's easily damaged and rather expensive.

The other question to assess is your general level of comfort wiring 12V harnesses, and perhaps wiring electrical in general. This won't be plug 'n play and an electrical mixup rewiring things could get VERY expensive, VERY quickly, if you mix up or accidentally short wires. Some components are NLA, so if you damage them, it's quite a pickle. If you damage wiring away from where you're working, that can be very hard to find and often require (expensive) expert intervention.

The NSX uses a less common audio system with pre-amp level outputs from the head unit with integrated amplifiers mounted in the speaker enclosures; thus the wires from the head unit to the speaker boxes are low current and can't handle speaker level current draw. Also don't send speaker outputs from a regular head unit or you'll blow the amps and perhaps the speakers. You'd need to remove the amplifier wiring from the speaker enclosures and wire the speakers directly to your new bluetooth-equipped head unit with appropriately sized wiring.

If all you want is bluetooth, your cheapest and simplest solution is probably a stereo bluetooth speaker. The sound quality won't be great, but the NSX stereo is so-so anyway, especially if you haven't added auxiliary tweeters. The soundtrack is that glorious VTEC engine and the intake sounds! Another option would be a hidden bluetooth receiver wired to the door speakers with the speaker amps bypassed, but you'd be missing the subwoofer and it's audio contribution.

Best,
Hi sorry about that. I am not really used to posting on forums and I should have provided as much detail as possible, and I appreciate the kindness in general. It's a 91 RHD JDM NA1. I'm living in California near San Francisco. Reading all of what you said I may not be so comfortable working on it myself to an extent as it seems it may be too easy to mess up a lot of stuff.
I am not super worried about looks and matching trim at the moment, I am just looking at a short term solution for bluetooth, strictly. Once I allocate more funds I'm more than willing to spend the money to incorporate a touchscreen into the center console like i've seen other people do to make it more modern.
I also want to apologize in advance for my ignorance, I am still trying to learn a lot.
 
You might consider a $10 <$30 solution. Just leave the radio in place, unplug it, and fabricate a BT receiver. This whole thing should take less than an hour and be plug-and-play.

Caveats: it would always be ON and volume control would be the phone.

AliExpress has 12v BT aux adapters with a mic. JieRui-BT 5908 with mic and RCA connectors

And it is easy enough to wire up to the OEM amps with an adapter harness. The Honda/Acura 16-pin connector was used from 1986-1989. The seeming exception was the NSX that used this connector to 2005. (If anybody knows the actual OEM part number please post! Common name is Metra 70-1720 and 70-1720T [tap harness] )
  • Yellow – 12V Constant
  • Red – 12V Accessory
  • Black - Ground
  • Orange – Dash Light Dimmer/Illumination
  • Green – Left Rear Speaker (+)
  • Green with Black Stripe Left Rear Speaker (-)
  • White – Left Front Speaker (+)
  • White with Black Stripe – Left Front Speaker (-)
  • Purple – Right Rear Speaker (+)
  • Purple with Black Stripe – Right Rear Speaker (-)
  • Gray – Right Front Speaker (+)
  • Gray with Black Stripe – Right Front Speaker (-)

Graphic Pinout
Stereo_Pinout.jpg

My friends at AliE even have a 2 channel to 4 channel converter

Making the system complete.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top