I have a 2008 Civic LX sedan and just installed a H/O alt last night and unplugged the ELD. I used this guide and have added a few notes that may help someone doing this.
Removal:
1. Open the hood.
2. Completely remove the factory air filter and airbox assembly from the vehicle (I'm sure there is a DIY for that somewhere on here, so I won't bother with instructions on how to do so). I just removed the top but I could see how taking it out completely would make it easier
3. Locate the underhood fuse box and engine ECM (located behind the battery towards the firewall)
4. Remove the platic cover that covers the ECM. To do so, squeeze the center and pull upwards with a fair amount of force (the cover will pop off and slide upwards, revealing the ECM).
5. Unclip and remove the top plastic cover from the underhood fuse box (this is easily done by hand)
6. With the top cover off, you will notice that there are three snap clips that hold the main plastic section of the underhood fuse box to the vehicle. Depress the three snap clips and pull the entire fusebox assembly upwards (you may need to free one or two of the clips at a time, and then do the third one separately)
7. As you pull the fusebox assembly upwards, you will feel resistance and see a piece of wire loom tubing running out of the bottom of it (towards the ground). Follow this tubing with your hand (it is a tight squeeze) until you feel where it is clipped into the "framerail" of the vehicle with a pastic pop clip. Forcefully pull upwards on the wire in that area to pop the plastic clip free.Mine was zip tied instead of a pop clip so I had to cut that which was a pain to get to. It may have been easier with the entire air box gone but I still managed
8. With the plastic clip free, you will now have enough slack to pull the fusebox upwards enough so that you can turn it sideways.
9. With the fusebox sideways, look at where the wire loom comes out from the bottom. There may be a zip tie or tape holding the wire loom to the fuse box plastic. If so, you need to remove these items before going any further. Just cut the zip tie or peel off the tape as needed.I didn't need to remove these
10. Once the zip tie/tape are gone, look once again at the main plastic section of the fusebox. You will see a small ridge in the lower portion. This ridge is where the bottom plastic cover snaps into the main part of the fusebox. Use a flathead screwdriver to pry the lower plastic cover off, and slide it down the wire loom to get it out of the way.
11. Now, look at the wires that are underneath the bottom cover that you just removed. You will see a bunch of wires and a couple of different plugs. The plug for the ELD is roughly in the center of the box, and has three wires coming out of it - A Yellow with Silver Hatches, A Solid Black, and An Orange with Silver Hatches.
The wires function as follows:
Yellow Wire W/Silver Hatches – 12V power feed (From Ignition)
Black Wire W/ Silver Hatches – Ground
Orange Wire W Silver Hatches – 5V sensory feed (Out to ECM)
12. You can simply unhook the plug for the ELD from the fusebox, push it up out of the way, and re-install the cover. This will bypass the ELD completely and cause the alternator to operate the way it did in most older domestic vehicles.
