IGeeky1

This just does not make sense to me electrically.

Front speakers have never worked since I got my 2001 xj used. So tonight I rip the door apart because I want to see what is wrong with the catch and look at the speaker while I'm there.

Remove speaker and test. speaker good. so I put back on (happen to have stereo on and operating) and presto, I get music out the front speaker!

To make a long story short. There is a very repeatable pattern. turn on radio (front speaker does not work) disconnect and reconnect speaker (speaker now works) power cycle radio (speaker will no longer work until connection is cycled again)

It is not the connection. While the speaker is working I can jiggle bump etc to speak and wiring without it turning off.

I've looked at most the treads here and have seen nothing like this.

Thoughts?

headRUSH

Sounds like a ground issue on your stereo, maybe the wires that control that speaker are bare behind the radio?

CrawdadSlim

Maybe the wires are partially severed.

IGeeky1

I suppose pulling the radio and then pulling fresh wires may be the easiest solution. Maybe I'll test first prior to pulling.

VTJeep

stock radio?

IGeeky1

yup stock AM/FM/Cass

sgjii

I had a similar passenger front speaker issue. Being an electronics tech and having worked in car stereo back in the day (late 80's), I too was puzzled at first.

I believe you have broken wires in the the wire harness between the body and the door. This is a common problem that manifests as dead/intermittent speaker, power window and power door lock problems.

It is metal fatigue of the wires themselves from bending during the opening and closing of the doors over the years.

I took the harness completely off/out the truck and worked on it on the bench. It was tedious to remove but not overwhelming. I found physically identifiable wires that were broken or even bare as well as when I tested continuity of each wire while bending it, I found a couple of intermittent ones where there was no visible deterioration or visible break. I used a multimeter with a continuity setting for testing.

I cut the wires at the points where they were broken and then stripped and soldered them back together and insulated each repair with heat shrink and some electrical tape to loom the whole bundle back together.

I would highly recommend soldering and not crimp terminals for the repair.

One year and 13K miles later, no issues.

Search the forum for posts related to broken wires in the door harness and you will find other postings as well.

Hope that helps.

VTJeep

If what sgjii said doesn't work, then there might be a short in the radio. Might need a new head unit. SQ from those stock units sucks anyways!

Danzig

I second the broken wires in the door harness