Rear speakers suddenly not working anymore

[IIGood]

I've got another weird one. I'm wondering if there's anything else I can check besides the typical physical connectivity and settings in a head unit that would cause the rear speakers to stop working. This is in my 2003 XLT.

Last week I was having issues with the front driver side door ajar switch. I replaced that which caused me to dig into the door's guts and fiddle around with things in there...but that was only at the rear of the door. I did kinda play with the wiring in the door jam harness but I don't believe I affected the rear speakers then.

Last weekend, I did replace the battery in the truck. This did cause the aftermarket stereo to lose it's customized audio settings that I set up but the radio stations and clock were still intact. Things like bass/mid/treble levels were reset to factory when power was pulled.

As stated, I do have an aftermarket head unit in there - a Kenwood - as well as aftermarket speakers in all four doors - also Kenwood. It's just the basic system; no rear DVD or anything.

I just noticed the lack of rear speaker audio today. The head unit doesn't seem to have any special settings for rear audio...when I fade the audio to the rear speakers, they produce no sound at all. I balanced the fade to 0 (both front and back) and heard nothing from the rears. I have not done anything in the rear doors lately that would cause the speakers to cease functioning...the last time I was in the rear doors was to install the speakers which worked fine.

I want to say they quit working after the battery change but I can't 100% confirm this. The battery was swapped last weekend and I just noticed the speaker issue today. I think they were working prior to the swap.

So again...is there something else I should be aware of outside of checking speaker connections and stereo connections?

 

[Number Twelve]

The wiring diagram shows nothing but wires going from the audio head to the speakers. No relays, no modules...just wires. The right speakers use connector C2095 and the left speakers use connector C215, so there's nothing there that would choose to drop the rears and not the fronts. A wiring failure will drop the right speakers or the left speakers. Ima' fraid you have a bad audio head.

 

[IIGood]

Well, that kinda sucks if that is the case. I bought it last October so if I've read correctly, I should still (barely) be within the manufacturer's warranty period. I'll have to get a hold of Kenwood and see what they'll be able to do.

I might still have to do my due diligence...put a known good on the rear channel to verify it isn't the speaker, check to see the speaker connections didn't come loose, etc.

Thanks for the info!

 

[IIGood]

Good news/bad news!

The good news: It's not the stereo. I opened up the doors earlier and ended up finding that the speakers were just disconnected. I first wondered how but when I saw where the wiring harness was hanging, it all became clear...the extra length of the harness that resulted from adding the 6" long (or so) adapter got in the way of the window track. So, when I rolled the windows down, it pulled on the wiring and unplugged it from the speaker itself.

Since they're aftermarket speakers, they of course don't have that silly proprietary Ford connector so I bought some adapters when I bought the speakers which adapts the factory Ford connection to play with speakers used in the rest of the world.

The bad news: the driver's side wiring did not fare as well. On that side, the wiring actually broke. I think it can be fixed from the door side and I'll just run a length of wiring and terminate it with those speaker connectors. That's how we did the speakers in my dad's 2005 Explorer...he actually cut the factory connector off the door wiring and spliced on speaker connectors.

So...that saves me from sending the head unit back, but I found this other issue. Easily fixable...hopefully.

 

[Number Twelve]

What the heck. Two separate problems can look like a completely different third problem until you actually get in there with a wrench.

I'm an electronics nerd. There is no wire that can't be fixed...even if you have to replace it.

 

[mountaineer2004]

Number Twelve, that's interesting what you said about left/right speakers.
My left speakers consistently cut out, but always eventually return.
Is there an easy way to repair this? Thanks.

 

[Number Twelve]

My left speakers consistently cut out, but always eventually return.
Is there an easy way to repair this?

You have to find the lousy connection in the wiring, but I wouldn't say that's easy.
Maybe connector C215
You might use a good ohm meter, if you know how to read low resistance defects and how to trust your meter. Otherwise it's about tracing the wire and jiggling connectors, and half the time you fix the defect by jiggling a connector and screw yourself out of finding the real problem.

 

[mountaineer2004]

Good advice, thanks! I'll try those ideas.