mr2man

Hi all, I have a '97 Cherokee for about 5 years. When I got it the speakers in the front doors worked. Gradually they became intermittent, and for the last long while, have not worked at all. So I had the dash out to install a new AC Evaporator Core and figured, after putting the dash back in but before putting all the trim in place, I would try to fix the speakers.

(I should say that I searched the threads on this forum and did not find any that addressed this specific problem.)

I started with the passenger side and checked the wiring and I seem to be getting current to the speakers consistently, so I figured the ground might be bad. When I regounded the speaker it worked great, until I shut off the radio. When I turned the radio back on, the speaker did not work, but when I detached the ground and reattached it, the speaker came back on. It behaves this way consistently, and I have made sure that all other connections are solid.

So I pulled the radio and ran a wire directly from the radio output for this speaker to the speaker itself, and it still behaves the same way--works when I hook up the ground but not after the radio is shut off and turned on again, unless I disconnect the ground and the reattach it, while the radio is on.

I thought maybe something is whacked in the speaker and so I go out a brand new one, and it behaves the same way.

Any ideas what is going on?

GoreXJ95

Shot in the dark here but may it possibly be your wires?

mr2man

Thanks, and that was my thought too, but I bypassed all the existing wires when I hooked up the speaker directly from the radio to the speaker. just ran new wires straight, bypassing the existing harness altogether, and the speaker (OEM or brand new one) behaves the same way.

nosidamde

I just purchased a 99 Cherokee Classic and my front left door speaker doesn't work at all at the moment, it intermittently didn't work the first week. Now nothing at all. It looks like an aftermarket speaker through the grille. I plan on purchasing an after market CD player with a USB input for the old iPod, so after I do that and it works, maybe that will explain things for you too?

Turbo X_J

The factory radio uses a floating ground never ground any of the speaker wires. First of all are you sure it's hooked up correctly? Follow this link for wiring codes:
http://www.modifiedlife.com/car-radi...ring-diagrams/

To check if there is a good connection from the radio harness to the speaker;
1.Identify the pair of wires for that speaker
2.Make a quick tester with a common 9 volt battery simply hold one wire on a terminal and quickly touch and release the other wire to the other terminal of the 9 v.
3.If the speaker responds you have a connection, if not you probably have one or more broken wires in the body to door rubber loom.

Hope this helps.

mr2man

Thanks,
I'm not the best at electronics so I'm not sure what a floating ground is. I will check the speaker using the 9 volt, but not till Monday. Thanks for the link for the wiring--that will help.

I'll let you know what I discover.

mr2man

OK so I ran the 9 volt test from the wires behind the radio and the speaker does not respond. I took the speaker out and disconnected it, and ran a set of test wires to it, and the 9 volt makes the speaker jump. So I cut the + and - wires behind the radio connectors and ran new wires from the radio directly to the speaker, and it works the same as before. That is, there is no sound from the speaker until I ground it directly to the car and then when I turn the radio off and back on the speaker does not work unless I disconnect the ground and reattach it, then it is ok, until I turn off the radio and then the same thing happens all over again.

I tried a new speaker and it operates the same way.

Any help.

Turbo X_J

Do you have another stereo that you could try?

rich

i know its not an xj but when i swapped radios in my dakota i didnt ground the radio. the sound would cut off then if i shut the radio off and on it was fine for a while, works great with the radio grounded hope this helps

mr2man

Thanks for the idea and I thought of this also, but I do not have another stereo.

mr2man

The radio is grounded, at least I hooked up the ground wire that is part of the wiring harness, but I was thinking that since I have some bad original speaker wires, maybe the original ground wire is also bad. I will check this out tomorrow.

Thanks for the help.

Turbo X_J

Is only the one speaker giving you problems or is it all 4 (or 2).

mr2man

both front speakers, one in each door, are the problem--the back two, in the rear gate, are fine.

mr2man

It's done. Got the speakers working. Thanks for all your help, especially the floating ground info.

What I had was this: broken wire between the stereo and the RF speaker and a bad positive feed in the stereo for the LF speaker. Ran new wires for both and then fed the LF negative off of the RF and all works well.

Thanks again for the help