Speaker wiring difficulties
 

I have a 1996 Jeep Cherokee and replaced the original radio with new
this past Christmas. All went well until about 2 weeks ago. Now none of
the speakers will produce sound.

When I check for sound at the connections behind the radio with one of
the speakers all is well. All four channels work.

I inspected the door connections and cables and did find some wear on
the front left door wiring but made reapirs all is OK. I can not find
continuity with an ohm meter for any of the spreaker wires at the dash.
It seems odd that all of the speakers stopped working at the same time.


Is there a connection plug between the dash (radio) and the speakers
that could cause this problem?

Right now I am ready just to rewire, but I am frustrated that I can't
find the problem.

Thanks for any input that might help.

Re: Speaker wiring difficulties
 

Sounds like you have an open circut on the ground loop wire.

1. Pull the harness off the back of the radio.

2. Pull the wiring harness off each speaker.

3. Check for continuity in each wire, then check for continuity to ground.

If all of this checks out (doubtful!), then proceed to hooking up the
wiring harness back to the radio, and hook up one speaker at a time and
test. It's possible that an internal short in one speaker can be
shorting the entire thing out, and this will find it.

I think you'll find that one (or more) of the wires are shorted to
ground, causing nothing to work. I've got $20 bucks in play money on
this one.

Re: Speaker wiring difficulties
 

Sounds like you have an open circut on the ground loop wire.

1. Pull the harness off the back of the radio.

2. Pull the wiring harness off each speaker.

3. Check for continuity in each wire, then check for continuity to ground.

If all of this checks out (doubtful!), then proceed to hooking up the
wiring harness back to the radio, and hook up one speaker at a time and
test. It's possible that an internal short in one speaker can be
shorting the entire thing out, and this will find it.

I think you'll find that one (or more) of the wires are shorted to
ground, causing nothing to work. I've got $20 bucks in play money on
this one.

Re: Speaker wiring difficulties
 

Sounds like you have an open circut on the ground loop wire.

1. Pull the harness off the back of the radio.

2. Pull the wiring harness off each speaker.

3. Check for continuity in each wire, then check for continuity to ground.

If all of this checks out (doubtful!), then proceed to hooking up the
wiring harness back to the radio, and hook up one speaker at a time and
test. It's possible that an internal short in one speaker can be
shorting the entire thing out, and this will find it.

I think you'll find that one (or more) of the wires are shorted to
ground, causing nothing to work. I've got $20 bucks in play money on
this one.

Re: Speaker wiring difficulties
 

Outatime wrote:
> Sounds like you have an open circut on the ground loop wire.
>
> 1. Pull the harness off the back of the radio.
>
> 2. Pull the wiring harness off each speaker.
>
> 3. Check for continuity in each wire, then check for continuity to ground.
>
> If all of this checks out (doubtful!), then proceed to hooking up the
> wiring harness back to the radio, and hook up one speaker at a time and
> test. It's possible that an internal short in one speaker can be
> shorting the entire thing out, and this will find it.
>
> I think you'll find that one (or more) of the wires are shorted to
> ground, causing nothing to work. I've got $20 bucks in play money on
> this one.

Thanks for the feedback.
I removed the wiring harness from the back of the radio.
Measured for continuity for each wire and could find none.
Not one wire has continuity, and not any are shorted to ground.
I have given up and rewired the speakers and they are working fine.

I can not understand this, it is like the wiring was severed.

New wiring works great and now I guess it is time to move on.

Thanks

Re: Speaker wiring difficulties
 

Outatime wrote:
> Sounds like you have an open circut on the ground loop wire.
>
> 1. Pull the harness off the back of the radio.
>
> 2. Pull the wiring harness off each speaker.
>
> 3. Check for continuity in each wire, then check for continuity to ground.
>
> If all of this checks out (doubtful!), then proceed to hooking up the
> wiring harness back to the radio, and hook up one speaker at a time and
> test. It's possible that an internal short in one speaker can be
> shorting the entire thing out, and this will find it.
>
> I think you'll find that one (or more) of the wires are shorted to
> ground, causing nothing to work. I've got $20 bucks in play money on
> this one.

Thanks for the feedback.
I removed the wiring harness from the back of the radio.
Measured for continuity for each wire and could find none.
Not one wire has continuity, and not any are shorted to ground.
I have given up and rewired the speakers and they are working fine.

I can not understand this, it is like the wiring was severed.

New wiring works great and now I guess it is time to move on.

Thanks

Re: Speaker wiring difficulties
 

Outatime wrote:
> Sounds like you have an open circut on the ground loop wire.
>
> 1. Pull the harness off the back of the radio.
>
> 2. Pull the wiring harness off each speaker.
>
> 3. Check for continuity in each wire, then check for continuity to ground.
>
> If all of this checks out (doubtful!), then proceed to hooking up the
> wiring harness back to the radio, and hook up one speaker at a time and
> test. It's possible that an internal short in one speaker can be
> shorting the entire thing out, and this will find it.
>
> I think you'll find that one (or more) of the wires are shorted to
> ground, causing nothing to work. I've got $20 bucks in play money on
> this one.

Thanks for the feedback.
I removed the wiring harness from the back of the radio.
Measured for continuity for each wire and could find none.
Not one wire has continuity, and not any are shorted to ground.
I have given up and rewired the speakers and they are working fine.

I can not understand this, it is like the wiring was severed.

New wiring works great and now I guess it is time to move on.

Thanks

Re: Speaker wiring difficulties
 

dalenichols@comporium.net wrote:

> Thanks for the feedback.
> I removed the wiring harness from the back of the radio.
> Measured for continuity for each wire and could find none.
> Not one wire has continuity, and not any are shorted to ground.
> I have given up and rewired the speakers and they are working fine.
>
> I can not understand this, it is like the wiring was severed.
>
> New wiring works great and now I guess it is time to move on.
>
> Thanks

You're welcome. However, this does call for an investigation in my
book. If none have any continuity at all, I think your guess is right
on: something severed the entire thing. Just out of sheer curiosity,
I'd trace every one of them to find out WTH happened to them.

I once did this accidentally. Pulled the steering column of an old
Dodge to replace the turn signal switch and wiring. 100 miles after
buttoning it all back up, everything quit working and fuses popped left
and right. The cause: the wire harness was caught between the steering
support harness and the dash, and when it was tightened up with a
rachet, everything was severed, or nearly so; it lasted a couple of
hours before bare metal wiring made contact with ground enough to start
the fireworks show.

Glad to hear it's working again; at least you sort-of know what happened
and could just rewire.

Re: Speaker wiring difficulties
 

dalenichols@comporium.net wrote:

> Thanks for the feedback.
> I removed the wiring harness from the back of the radio.
> Measured for continuity for each wire and could find none.
> Not one wire has continuity, and not any are shorted to ground.
> I have given up and rewired the speakers and they are working fine.
>
> I can not understand this, it is like the wiring was severed.
>
> New wiring works great and now I guess it is time to move on.
>
> Thanks

You're welcome. However, this does call for an investigation in my
book. If none have any continuity at all, I think your guess is right
on: something severed the entire thing. Just out of sheer curiosity,
I'd trace every one of them to find out WTH happened to them.

I once did this accidentally. Pulled the steering column of an old
Dodge to replace the turn signal switch and wiring. 100 miles after
buttoning it all back up, everything quit working and fuses popped left
and right. The cause: the wire harness was caught between the steering
support harness and the dash, and when it was tightened up with a
rachet, everything was severed, or nearly so; it lasted a couple of
hours before bare metal wiring made contact with ground enough to start
the fireworks show.

Glad to hear it's working again; at least you sort-of know what happened
and could just rewire.

Re: Speaker wiring difficulties
 

dalenichols@comporium.net wrote:

> Thanks for the feedback.
> I removed the wiring harness from the back of the radio.
> Measured for continuity for each wire and could find none.
> Not one wire has continuity, and not any are shorted to ground.
> I have given up and rewired the speakers and they are working fine.
>
> I can not understand this, it is like the wiring was severed.
>
> New wiring works great and now I guess it is time to move on.
>
> Thanks

You're welcome. However, this does call for an investigation in my
book. If none have any continuity at all, I think your guess is right
on: something severed the entire thing. Just out of sheer curiosity,
I'd trace every one of them to find out WTH happened to them.

I once did this accidentally. Pulled the steering column of an old
Dodge to replace the turn signal switch and wiring. 100 miles after
buttoning it all back up, everything quit working and fuses popped left
and right. The cause: the wire harness was caught between the steering
support harness and the dash, and when it was tightened up with a
rachet, everything was severed, or nearly so; it lasted a couple of
hours before bare metal wiring made contact with ground enough to start
the fireworks show.

Glad to hear it's working again; at least you sort-of know what happened
and could just rewire.