damn speaker wire!

[Kejtar]

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]

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]

http://i13.tinypic.com/2v12lat.gif
http://i13.tinypic.com/2wbulps.gif
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]

http://i13.tinypic.com/2v12lat.gif
http://i13.tinypic.com/2wbulps.gif
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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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

[Kejtar]

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]

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]

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

[1985xjlaredo]

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

[UNCC_99XJ]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

edit: double post

[Markos]

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.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3225/2793340205_f823b37b69.jpg (http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3225/2793340205_f823b37b69_b.jpg)

Next, start to remove the rubber boot
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3021/2793343027_d851f05fd6.jpg (http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3021/2793343027_d851f05fd6_b.jpg)

Remove the kick panel
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3135/2793344723_aa7b4b0817.jpg (http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3135/2793344723_aa7b4b0817_b.jpg)

Unplug the speaker harness, power window harness, and door lock harness
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3185/2793346485_2150c46ea7.jpg (http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3185/2793346485_2150c46ea7_b.jpg)

Pull the harness and two rubber boots through the body, and the door
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3179/2794197886_2ba9e44dcc.jpg (http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3179/2794197886_2ba9e44dcc_b.jpg)


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.

[AbkshelbyXJ]

The right door speaker in my '00 Cherokee is on the blink now too. It at first was the speaker connector to the speaker. But now it has the door open speaker dying syndrome. Looks like I'll be tearing into this harness soon too.

[crossmax03]

damn it looks like this white jeep lives down south.
not a spec of rust.
i gotta move south

[Markos]

damn it looks like this white jeep lives down south.
not a spec of rust.
i gotta move south

Well if you look close, there is some 'staining' on the door hinge. It's funny that you say that. The phoenix tow truck operator told me that my jeep must be from out-of-state. He said that because of the surface rust on the exhaust and driveline parts. I guess most AZ vehicles don't get that at all. The body of my XJ is in pretty good shape. No rust anywhere. Although, it's lived in IL, CO, AZ, and now resides WA. I also clean the door jams whenever I was my jeep. It hasn't been washed in several months though.

[49erRider]

Ahh the joys of complete sound from all diretions. Needless to say I did this on my new XJ today as well. Thanks a lot.