lindamartin•10d agoOG Member

Appreciation post: My old Honda's radio finally gave out after 14 years

I bought this 2008 Civic in 2010 and the factory radio just died two days ago, no warning or anything. My buddy said to just junk the whole car over a radio, but I found a used replacement at a salvage yard in Denver for 45 bucks. Took me about an hour to swap it out with a YouTube video guiding me, and now it works perfect. Anyone else ever fix something small on a car that everyone said wasn't worth the effort?

3 comments

3 Comments

uma_johnson10d ago

Forty five bucks and an hour of your time, but what about the opportunity cost? You could have just bought a Bluetooth adapter for twenty bucks and streamed music from your phone, probably sounded better than a stock Honda radio anyway. Plus now you've got a 14 year old used radio from a salvage yard that might crap out in six months, and you're back to square one. Salvage yard parts are a gamble, they don't come with any kind of warranty or return policy, so you basically spent money on a temporary fix. And honestly, if you're driving a 2008 Civic at this point, maybe it's time to think about whether that car is worth sinking any more effort into at all, the radio is just the first thing to go.

lunakim10d ago

My 2002 Corolla's radio died two years ago and I grabbed a used one from a local salvage yard for $35. That thing is still going strong lol. @uma_johnson I get the concern about salvage parts crapping out, but sometimes you get lucky. I also picked up a $15 Bluetooth fm transmitter from Amazon and honestly it sounds fine for just podcasts and basic music. If the Civic is running good otherwise, I'd keep fixing small stuff like this rather than dropping cash on a newer car payment.

blair_dixon3d agoMost Upvoted

Read a car blog saying those old Civic radios are actually pretty reliable, often outlasting the car itself. A $45 fix on a known good platform beats rolling the dice on a $500 month car payment any day. Bluetooth adapter or not, sound quality in a 2008 Honda isn't winning any awards anyway lol.