Speaker is Possessed! Need Help

[RammaR]

I've got a '96 XLT with the "premium" factory cassette and CD changer (no sub that I can find), and the front passanger side speaker starts to cut out intermittently. It doesn't cut out completely - because when you adjust the fade and balance you still hear sound, just very very quiet compared to the other 3. It normally cuts out after hitting a bump or sometimes closing the doors. Also, sometimes just that 1 speaker sounds blown... scratchy, like the wire is just making contact. Anyway, today I pulled off the door panel to check on things and here's what happened:

I pulled the speaker out and wiggled the wires and shook the whole speaker and it played perfect. Then I put the speaker back in the door with 1 screw and closed the door hard.... it went nearly silent. I opened the door and pulled out the speaker again and used a mutimeter to measure 4-ohms across the leads still. To get the speaker to play normal again it normally takes another bump or door slam... but i learned something new... if I quickly turned the volume up and down a few times it came back to life! Now i'm afraid it might be the head unit. I pulled it out and wiggled the wires behind it with no luck. It never cuts out completely as if the connection was totally broken. I'm tempted to pull off the other door panel and swap sides to see if the problem moves, but am now thinking it may be in the HU.

Has anyone had anything similar happen? Any advice on what to check or try next? My multi-meter is pretty cheap, but is there a way to measure the line voltage to see if its dropping off when it goes low? I tried using dc volts and didn't get anything with it playing good or when screwed up.

I was thinking of using the "speaker" problem I thought it was as an excuse to upgrade to better speakers, but now I don't want to do that if I have a HU problem.

Thanks for any help!

 

[2001ExpSport]

The speaker may be shortong out on the door metal somehow. Cover any metal with electical tape and make sure the speaker mounts are insulated.

 

[Alec]

it doesn't sound like a HU problem. It's either the connection to the speaker or the speaker itself. The reason quick adjustments of the volume help is that this allows a varied current to jump whatever bad connection you have. I'd suggest inspecting the wiring again, in the door and connecting to the body wiring. Also as 2001 suggested check any grounding or other interference that could be happening.

This is a good excuse to at least upgrade the front speakers

 

[RammaR]

Thanks.. I'll try to re-check all the wiring again in the morning... But I was thinking that if it was grounding out wouldn't I get all kinds of alternator whine - or does that only affect it if the HU is grounded properly?

Thanks again.

 

[hornz2000]

I have the same problem in my driver side door speaker. When someone slams the door or I go over a bump the speaker seems to go silent but when I adjust fade and balance you can still hear faint sounds out of it. I also figured out that if you turn up the volume very loud and then back down again several times, the speaker kicks back in. It is really pissing me off though and I really want to know how to fix it or I am just gonna buy aftermarket speakers.

 

[RammaR]

well, I re-checked all the wiring and everything looks fine. But since I couldn't think of anything else to do.. and wanted to make a change that would tell me something... I moved passanger speaker to the driver side and the driver to the passanger. Thinking that if its a speaker problem I'll hear the driver side go out now... and if its a wiring problem the passenger side will fade out....

As usual everything has worked fine since I made the change on Sunday. I don't know what to make of it right now, but am happy that the problem is gone for now. As soon as it rears its head again, I'll let you know what happens.

Thanks

 

[itzbinnice]

I had a similar problem with the passenger front speaker, mine didn't cut out but had lowered volume and static. Pulled the door panel off several times and checked connections from the door wiring back to the head unit. Couldn't find anything wrong. My situation was a little different, living in the North East, it acted up usually with the change of seasons. It was more pronounced in the winter months and once it got warmer it would happen infrequently. I switched the front speakers but it made no difference, still had the problem on the right side. This summer I replaced the head unit with one with CD controls and installed a factory 6 CD changer. I also removed the plastic interior panel on the passenger rear and got to the amplifier. I removed the wire connectors and cleaned all the contacts and made sure everything was tight.
Since then everything is working fine, never had any problem. Doing so many things I don't know if it was the head unit that I replaced or by cleaning the contacts that corrected the condition. But one thing is for sure, it was not the speaker.
It still may not be fixed since the true test will be the cold weather approaching. If it makes through the winter then I can truly say it's been fixed. If yours acts up again try cleaning your amp wire contacts, it won’t cost you anything other than your time. It’s a bit of a pain in the ass to get off and you need to buy a panel fastener removal toll for about 5.00, if you don’t have one, so you don’t scratch the plastic. I also had to buy the tork socket to get off the seat belt retractor located near the coat hanger bracket. Took me about an hour to do the whole job since I didn’t know what I was doing.