Today at Atelier Kaz - ex-Honda R&D, F1, Indy/CART engineer

While carrying out the Engine Refresh,
another owner brought his NSX for annual service.

Normally I prefer receiving another NSX once the service on the existing NSX has
completed but due to several reasons,
this owner can only bring his NSX to my place at the specific timing so
decided to look after two NSX at the same time.


The owner also wanted me to look into his audio head unit.

The owner tried to install the iPod adaptor but immediately lost the power on
the head unit.
He tried to remove the head unit but couldn’t remove the last two bottom
fixing screws and even he asked his mechanic to give it a go and still no luck.

He disconnected the iPod adaptor and later found that the fuse was blown so
replacing it recovered the power to the audio head unit but
haven’t tried the iPod adaptor since then.

Also, he mentioned that despite the fuse being replaced,
his sat nav charger still didn’t work through the cigarette socket that is
sharing the same fuse as the head unit.



Well, I haven’t tried the cigarette socket yet but as in the above photo,
I don’t think this charger will work any way.

It’s missing its centre terminal that is normally spring loaded.

As I didn’t see the missing parts inside the glove box,
may be it’s somewhere inside the owner’s suitcase or the bag???


Hope the owner can find it.



There are several different spec of circuit board used on our
Alpine audio head unit so until I open it,
I won’t know what parts to be ordered.


So, after having fun with the corroded CAT stud bolt on the other NSX,
decided to work on this one to check the circuit board spec.








Well, well….. The two bottom screws…..

They were really tight and I never had to apply so much torque for these screws…..

The screw head was already damaged by the previous attempt of removing it but
for this kind of situation, I use T-wrench with hardened screw bit so that I can
apply vertical force while rotating the screw.







And for the first time in my life,
I managed to crack the hardened screw bit for removing this audio head unit fixing screw!!

At the end, I had to use the screw bit from the impact driver and finally, they came off.


No idea why they were so tight because there was no damages or corrosion to them.

The screws are going to be replaced with the new ones as I ordered them
several months ago when I first heard about the news from the owner.







Lots of unused cables were removed under the centre console.
Looked to be the left over of the old security system.
New one was already installed by the owner.


Also, the owner told me that he dropped two screws under the centre console.
Successfully recovered them together with several other papers, etc....







And I’m glad I did it today because the parts being used on this head unit was
quite different from the previous ones.
Below is the one that I serviced just recently....








Also, as soon as I opened the head unit,
I noticed the distinctive burnt circuit board smell so
I knew there were some damages inside.











The serious burnt damage at the ACC line for the CD changer port.

The radio will work even with this damage but
nothing else using the CD changer port.


The damage is quite severe so I may need extra time.
I do hope I can recover the iPod adaptor feature for the owner.







There was also the same damage at the upper circuit board as seen on
the last audio head unit that I serviced very recently.
This one is not too bad so just a jumper wire will do the job although
I don't have enough data for the EMI effect using jumper at this part.



Another reason why I strongly recommend servicing the head unit before
installing the iPod adaptor especially if it is USA Spec PA11-HON as
I already heard almost exactly the same issue from many owners as well as
I experienced it by myself while installing it for the owners.


Servicing of the head unit is the standard menu when installing the
iPod adaptor at my place.



So, lots of things to be done with this head unit…..

More to follow later.

Kaz