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Sound System Problem

Ol' Blue

NAXJA Forum User
I have a 1998 Jeep Cherokee that had two speakers in the front and two in the rear ceiling, when I installed an Alpine CDE-123 headunit it only had the two factory speakers in the front an none in the rear soundbar. This setup worked for about two weeks and then I put in two Alpine Type R 6.5" coaxial speakers in. After a couple days I started having an odd problem. When I started the car in the morning the system would work for bout 10-15min on my way to school then the sound would just stop but the headunit was still lit up and functioning. It would sit in the parking lot at school for about 8hrs while I was in school, wouldn't work after school on my way to practice. Afte practice which was about 2hrs it would work again for like 5-10min then stop again until the next morning when I repeated the same cycle. My fuses all seem to be fine and so does my ground. I've tried removing one of the rear speakers because I thought it wasnt installed correctly but that didn't help, ether did fading my radio all te way to the front, removing the battery, or resetting the radio. I have no idea what the problem could be because a loose wire wouldn't make sense if sitting effected it. If anyone knows I'd appreciate the help. Thanks
 
Did you install the headunit and speakers or did you have them professionally done? Was the factory wiring harness connectors cut off and wires spiced to the Alpine harness or was a factory harness adapter used? Did the Jeep come with the factory Infinity Premium upgrade sound system with the amp under the rear seat on the driver side?

I would try putting the old headunit back in to see if it solves the problem. If it does then your alpine is bad or you need to do some more testing. Try getting a voltmeter and test the wires at the speakers and the wires coming out of the back of the headunit. If you are getting power at the back of the headunit but not at the speakers then you have a wiring problem or if you have the Infinity sound system then the factory amp may be going bad or something is not working with the amp.

But the first thing I would do is try hooking the factory radio back up to see if your symptoms are still there because that will let you know a lot and give you a good place to start.
 
I Installed them myself with the help of my friends dad who has done multiple other sound system installs. We used a Metra wiring harness adapter and he checked all the connections recently and he said that they all checked out good. My jeep had the basic sound option so there was no factory amp but i checked just incase and there isnt, but there was a square of carpet that had a been cut and re-installed in that location but when i took it up it was just the body no mounts or screw holes which i thought was odd as if there was an amp or somthing.

I did try a different headunit out of a friends truck that has been working fine (also an alpine) and the same problem occured so that ruled out my headunit having an issue.

I am borrrowing a voltmeter from my grandfather to check the alternator to see if maybe there was a power issue such as my alternator or battery going bad, but I will check my wiring too.
 
Wiring issues in the Cherokee doors are very common. Check continuity of the speaker wires between the speaker and the head unit. The simplest solution is to run fresh wires from the speaker to body wire harness just inside the door rubber boot.
 
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