Confused (again) please help Radio/speaker problem don't know what I did

[pablopicasso46]

I'm a new member of the Forum.. so hello to all...I met Jim, Yun and David of the Wazoo's a couple of weeks ago and spent time with them at Jim's garage, fixing a few things on my new (have had it about a month) ' 92 (#501) ... btw, I am working on that artcicle for you Dave.

Anyway.I've been working on my "master plan" on what I want to ,and can fix on my car ,and was thinking about the radio today, which I didn't think was working all that great...as far as I can tell, the only speaker that is working is ..or rather was woeking is the one one the front left.. at least that's the only place I could hear sound coming from.. but I can't figure out where the front speakers actually are? There is no grill or anything..., so is it behind the carpet , down near the floor in front on the sill cover? .. without any kind of faceplate?? That's where it seems the sound was coming from, but as I said I was only hearing it from the driver;s side ..not the passangr side at all, and not the back at all. so I figure I need to fix or replace the other 3 speakers?..

What has me confused right now though is I tried to peel back the carpet onthe side a little bit , where it seemed to be overlayed over the carpet that covers the flor and under the dash , to see if I could see the speaker in there and suddenly that one stopped working too, and the radio and the ac/heat controls started flickering ..so what could I have done to cause that and how do I fix it??

Any ideas?

[Paul Workman]

Originally Posted by pablopicasso46

I'm a new member of the Forum.. so hello to all...I met Jim, Yun and David of the Wazoo's a couple of weeks ago and spent time with them at Jim's garage, fixing a few things on my new (have had it about a month) ' 92 (#501) ... btw, I am working on that artcicle for you Dave.

Anyway.I've been working on my "master plan" on what I want to ,and can fix on my car ,and was thinking about the radio today, which I didn't think was working all that great...as far as I can tell, the only speaker that is working is ..or rather was woeking is the one one the front left.. at least that's the only place I could hear sound coming from.. but I can't figure out where the front speakers actually are? There is no grill or anything..., so is it behind the carpet , down near the floor in front on the sill cover? .. without any kind of faceplate?? That's where it seems the sound was coming from, but as I said I was only hearing it from the driver;s side ..not the passangr side at all, and not the back at all. so I figure I need to fix or replace the other 3 speakers?..

What has me confused right now though is I tried to peel back the carpet onthe side a little bit , where it seemed to be overlayed over the carpet that covers the flor and under the dash , to see if I could see the speaker in there and suddenly that one stopped working too, and the radio and the ac/heat controls started flickering ..so what could I have done to cause that and how do I fix it??

Any ideas?

Stop right there! It is always a good idea to remove the (negative) terminal from the battery before doing any electrical stuff.

The speakers are under blisters attached by screws on the inside of the sill cover - just behind your heel - and can only be accessed by removing the sill cover.

That footwell area is the ingress/egress area for most of the wiring of the car. Lots of connections there, and the last thing you want to do is go on a hide and seek mission...with the battery connected.

First step in troubleshooting 'lectric chit'...as you well know, apparently...is visual inspection. Chances are you only disturbed a connection that may have been damaged and waiting for just such a moment to be known. You'll now need to remove the carpeted hush pannel and support section to inspect all the wiring there for loose connectors and or broken wires. And, the fuse panel, accessed with the passenger side door, may have a fuse (or two) blown. Do you have a FSM yet? If not, you'll want to put that on your list of accessories!

My suggestion would be to send up a distress flare to the WAZOO tribe. Armed with the FSM and their experience with the Z, you'll be in good hands.

JMO. Good luck. Keep us updated.

P.

[pablopicasso46]

Originally Posted by Paul Workman

Stop right there! It is always a good idea to remove the (negative) terminal from the battery before doing any electrical stuff.

The speakers are under blisters attached by screws on the inside of the sill cover - just behind your heel - and can only be accessed by removing the sill cover.

That footwell area is the ingress/egress area for most of the wiring of the car. Lots of connections there, and the last thing you want to do is go on a hide and seek mission...with the battery connected.

First step in troubleshooting 'lectric chit'...as you well know, apparently...is visual inspection. Chances are you only disturbed a connection that may have been damaged and waiting for just such a moment to be known. You'll now need to remove the carpeted hush pannel and support section to inspect all the wiring there for loose connectors and or broken wires. And, the fuse panel, accessed with the passenger side door, may have a fuse (or two) blown. Do you have a FSM yet? If not, you'll want to put that on your list of accessories!

My suggestion would be to send up a distress flare to the WAZOO tribe. Armed with the FSM and their experience with the Z, you'll be in good hands.

JMO. Good luck. Keep us updated.

P.

Hi Paul

I'm Paul too.. and thanks for responding.

Il earned all about disconnecting the neg terminal when I was removing the door panel and blew the courtesy light fuse when removing the screw behind the courtesy light ,which also turned off the radio and ac module untl I replaced the fuse....but I wasn;t trying to do anything with "lectic chit" at the time this happened..or at least I didn;t think I was ..all I did was peel back a little of the carpet that covers the sill were it overlaps the carpet that covers the rest of the floor to try and see if the speaker was indeed behind there, ..but apparently I did disturb something electrical..becasue the speaker stoped working and the radio and ac unit come on, but the displays flicker.. Interestingly though the, the courtesy lights still come on this time , so it's not the fuse I blew out the last time..

Are you saying I should remove the sill cover and the sill corpet to expose te speaker and see if I diconnected or broke a wire there, or remove that carpeted piece under the dash/steering wheel? (I wasn;t anywhere near that)

[secondchance]

Paul,

If I remember correct there are 3 philips head screws on the outside face of door sill that holds the sill in place. Also, you need to remove a verical plastic piece on the rear of the door opening to slip the sill off.
I will take a look at your radio/speakers when we get together next time.

[gbrtng]

Your speaker amplifiers have failed. There is one at each speaker location, 4 total.

Send to http://www.doctordons.com/ for repair - he used to charge $75 each to rebuild them.

[Paul Workman]

Originally Posted by pablopicasso46

Hi Paul

Are you saying I should remove the sill cover and the sill corpet to expose te speaker and see if I diconnected or broke a wire there, or remove that carpeted piece under the dash/steering wheel? (I wasn;t anywhere near that)

To get to the speaker, the door sill piece has to come out.

Pretty easy, actually, and the carpet is glued to the sill. There is a row consisting of a couple or so philips head screws along the outside side of the sill - about an inch or two along and above the lower edge of the sill. Recalling from memory (always dangerous) one end is retained under the the B pillar molding - about the height of the door latch, and the other end is anchored near the upper door hinge. There is also a screw or two on top of the sill, and some real sticky chit that you'll have to overcome - just be careful not to break the plastic sill piece itself (rather thin, and a bit brittle, no doubt).

If you need to get into the wiring in the footwell, the hush panel is at your knees. There are two screws on the left side (accessible only with the door open), three screws along the bottom forward most edge, two screw at either end, just below the fold where it tucks back toward the footwell.

The metal support piece is anchored by two bolts on the left side, and two more on the far right edge of the panel.

Hope this helps.

P.

[WB9MCW]

Welcome to the Zoo (our forum) pablopicasso46.

Good luck with the tunes project.

[LGAFF]

Our cars have radios?

[mike100]

Originally Posted by LGAFF

Our cars have radios?

it amazes me how much people will tolerate. Just so long as one speaker amp still works, I guess it is still ok?

The sticker shock on those amps is enough to make most people forget about it, but you can still get some newer used ones out of Infiniti I30's/ nissan maximas in the junkyard for peanuts. Pretty much tuned for similar front/rear speaker sizes. I have successfully repaired a couple, but grabbing much newer units from the junk nissans was just too easy.

[secondchance]

Originally Posted by mike100

it amazes me how much people will tolerate. Just so long as one speaker amp still works, I guess it is still ok?

The sticker shock on those amps is enough to make most people forget about it, but you can still get some newer used ones out of Infiniti I30's/ nissan maximas in the junkyard for peanuts. Pretty much tuned for similar front/rear speaker sizes. I have successfully repaired a couple, but grabbing much newer units from the junk nissans was just too easy.

What year Infiniti and Maxima models had Bose amp that will work in our cars?