damn speaker wire!

Kejtar · Oct 28, 2006

OK, does anyone know of the top of their head if there are any connectors on the speaker wire between where the stereo is and the front passenger door harness plugs in? One of the speaker wires seems to be "disconnected" someplace between those two points and I want to know what I need to rip appart to get to whatever connectors went bad.

Btw, it's 97XJ

StylerG · Oct 28, 2006

my wires got worn out from opening and closing the door so much they wore down so bad they would short out and it would appear as if the speaker itself wasnt working. Easiest thing to do is re-wire your doors with quality speaker wire, and while you are in there upgrade!

Lonestar · Oct 28, 2006

It looks like they go to a factory amp first. If you don't have an amp then they probably go straight to the speakers. Factory amps usually are used if you have the preimium audio option on your XJ.

Kejtar · Oct 28, 2006

Lonestar said:
It looks like they go to a factory amp first. If you don't have an amp then they probably go straight to the speakers. Factory amps usually are used if you have the preimium audio option on your XJ.

No factory amp.... Oh well, gonna have to remove one of the cage legs so that I can test and redo the wiring

At least the legs are bolt in.

nylyon · Oct 28, 2006

Behind the kick panels there is a connector. I doubt that your speaker is disconnected, I had to run a new wire from the speaker to the connector on my 01, because as mentioned above, the wires break on the 97-01 models. Running a new wire should take all that long to do.

Kejtar · Oct 30, 2006

yep... it was a wire between the kickpanel connector and the speaker. Being extremely lazy I just ran 1 new wire

And I'll wait for the other one to go

GSequoia · Oct 30, 2006

Just to share...

Late model XJ's probably have the same wiring and speaker connectors that my Neon has. Those SUCK. Speakers cut in and out in that vehicle all the time.

I'd rewire it if I drove it every day, but it's on loan to my mom

UNCC_99XJ · Dec 12, 2006

Kejtar said:
yep... it was a wire between the kickpanel connector and the speaker. Being extremely lazy I just ran 1 new wire And I'll wait for the other one to go

Started having this problem yesterday on my 99. Drivers side front cuts in and out as I open and close the door. I can play with the gromit b/w the door and the body that the wires are in and the speaker will come on and off which tells me it's a bad wire somewhere. I know this is another one of those lovely common issues on the 97+'s, but i'm a little confused as to which kickpanel connector you're talking about. All I've seen is the one that's plugged into the back of the speaker.

Also, what kind of wire did you use, and i'm assuming you wired it to that connector on the factory speaker.

Thanks for your help. :yelclap:

ladywolf · Dec 12, 2006

my 99 had the same issue...when i replaced the stereo had the stereo guys replace the wire too. worked great after that

Kejtar · Dec 12, 2006

99XJSPORT06 said:
Started having this problem yesterday on my 99. Drivers side front cuts in and out as I open and close the door. I can play with the gromit b/w the door and the body that the wires are in and the speaker will come on and off which tells me it's a bad wire somewhere. I know this is another one of those lovely common issues on the 97+'s, but i'm a little confused as to which kickpanel connector you're talking about. All I've seen is the one that's plugged into the back of the speaker.

Also, what kind of wire did you use, and i'm assuming you wired it to that connector on the factory speaker.

Thanks for your help. :yelclap:

I took the plastic piece of the trip that surrounds the fusebox (take the fusebox panel, remove the nut, remove couple bolts along the doorsill). Then I can't remember which plug it was, but I traced the wire for the speakers and tapped on the receptacle side.

Oh yeah, I used 16 gauge speaker wire I had laying around.

UNCC_99XJ · Dec 12, 2006

Kejtar said:
I took the plastic piece of the trip that surrounds the fusebox (take the fusebox panel, remove the nut, remove couple bolts along the doorsill). Then I can't remember which plug it was, but I traced the wire for the speakers and tapped on the receptacle side.

Oh yeah, I used 16 gauge speaker wire I had laying around.

awesome! I think i might dig into this thursday.....i might as well go ahead and do both wires now. I dont see how opening and closing the door causes it to wear out though...:wierd:

fordtech · Dec 12, 2006

my 98 did it too.... replaced with some monster wire (12gauge I think) just for durability.

1985xjlaredo · Dec 12, 2006

GO TO BEST BUY THEY WILL RUN NEW SPEAKER WIRE FOR 35.00 BUCKS AND IT IS GUARENTED FOR 1 YEAR

UNCC_99XJ · Dec 12, 2006

1985xjlaredo said:
GO TO BEST BUY THEY WILL RUN NEW SPEAKER WIRE FOR 35.00 BUCKS AND IT IS GUARENTED FOR 1 YEAR

Interesting, but I prefer to do my own work on my heep.....especially electrical.

Looks like I might be getting some speakers in the near future...lol.

crossmax03 · Dec 22, 2008

I"m just finding that my speaker wires in the doors both died probably from the opening/closing(i think within a month or 2 of eachother)

so i'm gonna upgrade and run new wire.
except there's 2 feet of snow outside right now. so i'll wait.

winterbeater · Dec 23, 2008

My front speakers are out on my 2000 also. I think it's interesting though that they are both out. And the passenger side door probably only gets opened 5-10% as often. If the back speakers go out too, I'll have to fix em. So the consensus seems to be the wires, not the speakers??????

crossmax03 · Dec 24, 2008

yea i took out the front speaker i thought was dead. plugged it in the back and it worked fine. i also hooked up a new speaker directly to the back of the head unit and it works for the front outputs. so it's definitely the wire(s)

bwinter1946 · Dec 25, 2008

Yep.

I had the same problem on my 99. Both front speakers were bad. Drivers side would work or not work depending on the position of the door. Passenger side dead all the time. Both wires were broken inside the door jam flexible rubber coupler tube. I found the breaks and ran a new 14 guage wire. Now both work fine.

Markos · Dec 26, 2008

edit: double post

Markos · Dec 26, 2008

Here's my writeup on the fix:

Originally posted by Markos

Some of you may run into a front speaker that cuts in and out. The wire gets severed within the rubber boot in the door jam. Here is my approach to locating the problem. Tools required include a phillips head screwdriver (door panel), a standard screwdriver (popping off the door panel), a 11mm deep socket (kick panel), electrical tape (wire fixin'). It isn't completely necessary to pull the entire harness through the door, but it makes for a clean repair.

Click on images for larger view:

First, remove the door panel, followed by the speaker.

Next, start to remove the rubber boot

Remove the kick panel

Unplug the speaker harness, power window harness, and door lock harness

Pull the harness and two rubber boots through the body, and the door

Once the harness is through the door, pull it through the speaker hole. Unrwap the harness cover. Plug the speaker wire harness back in (cube shaped connector), plug in the speaker, and mess with the wires until you find the problem. Once you locate the problem, resplice your wire. I recommend using heat shrink tube followed by electrical tape. I wouldn't use solder as this is can cause the wire (where the solder ends) to crack an break in the future. Use electrical tape to tape up the wire bundle. Recover with the factory velcro slip cover. Installation is the opposite of dissassembly.

damn speaker wire!

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