Getting ready to hand the mighty Honda down to my daughter and want to fix a couple of things, once being the cars lack of bluetooth.

This is a 2010 Civic with Hondas notoriously bad AUX plug, I have replaced 4 i the time I have owned the car at $35.00 each and I don't want her messing with a plug when she is supposed to be driving.

Seems like my options are:

1) Replace the plug and either get a bluetooth adapter that plugs in or get her an AUX cable (what I have been doing) and hope for the best.

2) Bluetooth transmitter that works with FM radio

3) Replace factory head unit with an aftermarket from Crutchfield.

I am leaning towards the FM transmitter but do not know anyone with any experience so I am unsure of how well they work.

Theyre a pain. Replace the head unit.

And yes, I understand that I could have put in a decent head unit for less than I have spent on Honda's stupid cheap plugs!

If the AUX works once plugged in, get a 10 dollar bluetooth to AUX adapter.
If not, or if it's too finicky, just get a new head unit.

Kevmo, I dont want to hijack your thread, but I have a head unit, a JVC Arsenal KW-R925BTS that i just pulled out of my wifes old car when we sold it. It needs a new microphone wire ($10-15), but still works great. If you are interested, I will take $30 shipped for it.

You can check fit on Crutchfield.com

Email in profile.

Without question, aftermarket. She'd also love carplay or Android's equivalent.

quote:

Originally posted by sasquatch28:
Kevmo, I dont want to hijack your thread, but I have a head unit, a JVC Arsenal KW-R925BTS that i just pulled out of my wifes old car when we sold it. It needs a new microphone wire ($10-15), but still works great. If you are interested, I will take $30 shipped for it.

You can check fit on Crutchfield.com

Email in profile.

Thanks...that is very generous and I might take you up on it!

In a different application, I have used a FM transmitter for satellite radio. The first ones were so powerful that nearby cars could tune to the right station and hear what I was playing. That power has since been dialed back. Typically there is a way to add without pulling the head unit by using an antenna on the transmitter to pull FM from the car antenna. The better solove is to plug FM transmitter into head unit FM antenna hole then put car antenna into that.

At that point you have pulled the unit and could simply add a new one.

My vote would be to add new unit with desired bells and whistles (or budget). If you are against hacking up the wiring harness Crutchfield usually has plug and play adapters available.

Replace the radio. Ask me if you have any questions-been in the business over thirty years.

I have a Bluetooth to FM transmitter in my truck (01 F150). It works great plus it has a USB port on the transmitter that will charge my phone or earbuds. This is handy since I have an aftermarket back up camera plugged into the other charging hole. I've had it for about 3 years and I haven't had any issues at all. I looked at changing out the head unit but didn't want to spend the money and stuck with the transmitter since I didn't know how much longer I'll be driving this truck.

One thing to be aware of is the transmitter might not be the best idea if she will be traveling much. I had an XM unit with the FM transmitter in my work vehicle. It worked great until I traveled outside my city. Then I would have to hunt for a clear station and change the XM radio to transmit to it.

If I had the spare money and time I'd go with a new head unit. On the other hand I wouldn't be afraid to use a transmitter either.

Replace the head unit. Long story short: Wife played it cheap for her van and wouldn't let me replace the head unit for $650. FM BT thing she bought had issues where it would occasionally auto-cycle thru channels or bands.

This glitch happened while son (1 yr experience) was driving alone and he chose to fix it/turn it off/on....Hence, eyes off the road too long and ended up rear-ending a car. Pushed them into the truck in front of them. No injuries, thank God. Totaled the van (2010 w/159k mi).

He was 17 and while he was tagged "at fault", the cop (fortunately) didn't issue a ticket. His insurance doubled and he gets to pay for it.

Two ways to look at it since no one was injured:

View 1, The 'lesson learned' - cheaping out instead of replacing the head unit cost significantly more than $650.

View 2, 'Life lesson' - "Paying attention is your first priority" (since no one was injured) worth WAY more than the $650 my wife saved and the $2000 my son spent.

Rick

Replace the radio and speakers. She will think she has a new car.

Replace the HU...

At a minimum a low end Pioneer with bluetooth for handfree with her phone....

Crutchfield is great to deal with...

Just took delivery on a new head unit from Crutchfield yesterday.
For around a 100 bucks you will be good to go.

Bob