Does anyone know if there is a connector for the left side speakers either under the carpet or under any of the panels?
Where is the most likely place for the wires to be damaged or shorted?
The problem I have is the left side speakers are not working, (didn't work with the factory deck in either) the speakers are good and I have installed a new deck.

 

Most likely place is in the driver's door where the cabling goes through the trunking at the hinge. Pop off the door card*, pull the rubber trunking back into the door and unwrap the velcro that holds on the fabric covering.
Then inspect and it's probably time to get busy with a soldering iron and some insulated/stranded cable and heatshrink.
If you have power windows which don't/don't always respond you'll probably end up killing two birds with one stone.

*three large screws, one small screw IIRC then pop off the clips working from the bottom. Lift up the card to clear the window trim and reach behind to unhook the lock rod clips and wiring plugs. Three hands useful, but not essential.

 

Damnit, just realised you've got a 92 and this is normally a 97+ problem. Still might be worth looking.

 

Run new wire.

 

Yep. By the time you open up the door panel and all of that, you have done 90% of the work of running new speaker wire. What the factory uses is slightly above junk grade, so replacing it with good speaker wire is a no-brainer.

 

I checked today, not worn in the doors. I'll find it sooner or later. I'm stripping the interior ...my floor pans are gone. all I have are rails. Didn't know stock wire is junk.
I saw a picture online of an 90's XJ with a wire connector under the carpet right below the seat belt mount on the drivers side, between the seat and the tranny tunnel, checking there tomorrow when I rip the seats and carpet out.

 

If you are doing all that anyway, I'd replace ALL the speaker wiring. Get rid of those trouble spots and have a clean, unbroken run of decent speaker wire from the stereo head to the speaker. No connectors.

Pretty much all stock speaker wiring is not nearly as good as what you can install yourself, regardless of the brand of car.

 

Didn't get the seats or carpet out today,but I did get all of the trim except for one piece out today. I've got two screws stripped in the lower drivers side molding by the rocker, couldnt get them out so again tomorrow. Figuring I'll drill the heads off and see if I can vise grip it from the back side.

 

That's a pain.

On these molding screws that go into sheet metal or plastic, I have sometimes been able to get a razor blade under the edge of a screw and gotten it to back out by applying upward pressure while unscrewing. OR, if you can get to the backside, press the screw up (out) while unscrewing.

The problem sometimes is that the very top threads are rusted away and there's nothing to make the screw back out until you can raise it enough for the remaining threads to engage. Once they engage, it comes out normally.

 

x5? on running new wire to all speakers.

 

The door boots are a common place for factory wires to break. same with the rubber boot to the lift gate. Before you tear your whole jeep apart get a multi meter. even a really cheap one can let you know which wire is your problem

 

I've got to put in new floor panels anyway, even my "frame" is going to need reinforcement,there are no floorpans left... I'll get pics tomorrow, I've already found frame stiffeners that I'll weld in- found out about frame stiffeners from watching still havent found the short, but did replace my distributor today, easiest distributor replacement I've ever done. Don't even have to set timing!! Now that Pathkiller is mobile again I'll head over to Ace Hardware and buy some speaker wire tomorrow or order it from Amazon next day!!! Thanks for the replies!! I will report back when I find it and post pics for future reference for people looking for speaker wire shorts in the future..

 

Watch out that you don't trap rust in with those frame stiffeners. They are great for what they were made for, but they are no substitute for cleaning out rust. If it's there, and you leave it there, it will just eat whatever you used over the top of it.

 

It might be cheaper to buy a better xj than fix this one... adding the parts list soon, the wiring kicked my *** today, redone all of the connections at the stereo harnesses beside the drivers side kick panel, one of them goes to the back speakers and now I've got no power to the stereo at all!!!
The wiring for the front and back channels is separate.
I haven't figured out how to post pics to my build page yet, It must have to do with my security settings and addons.

 

Did you remember to disconnect the battery before messing with the wiring?

If not, it's likely that you blew a fuse.