Speakers in truck quit working??

[bassman186]

I have a 95 dodge ram 1500. The other afternoon when I left work I started the truck and the speakers were not working, I have Subs in the truck and those worked as did the radio itself... I had a pop can in the cuphold which for some reason in 70 degree weather it exploded it the cup holder. I took apart the dash and cleaned everything but still no luck. This happend a little less than a week ago so its had time to dry out.

Any ideas or things to check?

Thanks;

[Kyle Sandberg]

Check the fuses to see if any blew. No other ideas coming from this blockhead.

[bassman186]

I checked the radio fuse and its still good, couldnt find one that said speakers though..

[Kyle Sandberg]

I don't think there is anything wrong with the speakers if they all stoped working at the same time. There must be something from the radio to the speakers that caused it. If need be, try to follow the wiring from the radio to the speakers and see what that yeilds.

[polarsusd81]

I used to be one of those (Contact Us Please) that had a really loud stereo system in the truck and had my fair share of troubles.(Don't take it the wrong way, not calling you an (Contact Us Please) or anything like that.) If they all quit at the same time but the subs are still working my guess would be that somewhere along the line the speaker wires shorted out. When this happens, it will sometimes blow a fuse, but that was not the case in my circumstance. What happened to me was that the speaker output from the headunit fried, but the RCA outputs to the subs still worked. Luckily there was a second and third set of RCA outputs that I could use for the front and rear speakers and I had a 4 channel amp to go along with the sub amp. The stereo headunit will still work and the RCA's still work, but the only way to get your mids and highs to work is using a second amp to power them.

If this sounds like the problem you are having, you may want to consider a new headunit, or a second amp to power the mid/high speakers. A new headunit will be a much smaller and easier install, as to run a new amp for the rest of the speakers is going to intail re-running a lot of wires as well as adding another line from the battery or distribution/fuse block. If you pick up a new headunit from the same manufacturer, the plug should just snap right into the new one, but I would highly suggest checking your connections at the speakerwire splices to make sure nothing is exposed. Also might be worth checking the speaker connections at the speakers to make sure nothing is shorting there. Another tip...use heat shrink wrap or at the very least electrical tape to protect the connections at the butt splices.

If you have any other questions, post em up and I will do my best to help.

Tom

[18 inch Crappie]

Are you speakers running off the radio or a amp? Is it a factory radio or a after market? If the radio, check the fad er and balance to make sure you did not hit them and adjust the speakers off. Check the plugs at the back of the radio. When you pulled the dash apart to clean you could have unplugged something.

[CJH]

I would start with the speaker connections and the wiring harness at the back of your stereo. If you have an amp, check the connections and the fuse/circuit breaker of the amp itself, not the truck.

[polarsusd81]

I guess I didn't know that id iot was a word that got the contact us please. There are a few different things it could be, but I would first be thinking it was a shorted speaker wire. If the plug came out of the back of the stereo, he would not have power and would therefore have no signal to the subwoofers.

[hanson]

Bassman has not responded to the last few posts so I'm willing to bet its amp related, but hopefully he can fill us in.

There are so many variables in this equation that it is tough to diagnose without the facts.

1 amp? 2 amps? Multi channel amp? Etc.

Could be an in-line fuse popped between the battery and the amp powering the speakers (which is my vote!). The sub is more than likely run off its own channel and own amplifier, unless he went with a 5 channel amp, or bridged the lower frequencies on a 2 channel amp. If he went separate amps, one would have powered the 4 speakers and the other would have been dedicated to the sub. Dang I sound like I'm in High School again. Funny how these things pass with time. LOL!

I vote to check your amp wiring for an in-line fuse at the battery, or near the battery.

[bassman186]

whoa got alot of replies this afternoon. Ok here's what I can tell you. The amp powers the subs not the speakers. The amp and subs still work just fine. The stereo is a deck I bought at best buy a few years back so nope not the stock one. The speakers are stock in the truck and thats what quick working. The stereo itself has every thing all plugged in and the wires are all connected. The speakers quit working before I pulled the dash apart.

Anything I missed to answer let me know.

Thanks for all the advice guys

[polarsusd81]

bassman

I stand by my diagnosis. I had the exact same thing happen, but it happened when I was installing the deck. The wires for the speakers touched accidently when the stereo had power and it fried the speaker output from the head-unit. It is time to do as I said in my first post...check the connections at all the butt splices for the adapter plug from the head-unit and check the connections at the speakers to make sure there isn't a short and pick up a new head-unit. You could run a new amp, but it will be much more work than getting a new head-unit. Sometimes you would be lucky enough that it just popped the fuse on the back of the head-unit, but it wasn't that way in my case and doesn't seem to be in yours because the head-unit and subs still have power/signal. Just be sure to use the heat shrink tape at all the connections.

Question for you...Did you have bestbuy install the head-unit when you purchased it? If so, you would probably be able to get a new one out of them for free if you do find out that it is a short in one of the connections. Their installers are supposed to do the job right, but I know there are some guys that aren't there with good intentions and don't care a whole lot about the quality of their work, but rather the quality of equipment a customer is putting in their car.

Also, with the truck being a 95 Ram, it would not have a factory amp to run the speakers so that is out of the question, unless you added an amp for them and from the sounds of things, that is not the case.

[bassman186]

I'm confused on your reply there...

The amp which powers the Subs ONLY, is connected to the cd deck and the deck, the amp, and subs all still work. The problem is the fatory speakers dont work... so what your saying is that the head unit is toast? Explain to me what a head unit is? Also the deck was put in by me in this truck. I had it in another truck and that was installed by best buy at that time not in this one.

[polarsusd81]

The words head-unit, deck, stereo are all kinda used for the same thing. I am pretty sure there is a short somewhere in the connections right behind the deck. Check them all very carefully to make sure there isn't any possibility that the wires can touch anything, and check down a ways from the connections to make sure the insulation on the wire didn't rub off somewhere exposing the copper anywhere. The power output from the deck that runs the speakers got fried somehow and that is why they aren't working. I can't remember exactly why the RCA output for the amp will still work when the speaker output goes out, but I think they may be on a different circuit in the deck.

Just to confirm, you can still hear the bass coming from the subs, but no output at all from the speakers. If that is the case, you will be best off getting a new deck.

Oh, by the way, don't take it as an insult or anything saying something may have shorted out, I may have come off in a wrong way or something. Just trying to help out, this problem happens to a lot of people, but most don't have subs and they just buy a new deck, not really finding out how it really happened.

If you need, send me an email with my username at yahoo.com. I will give you my phone number and you can give me a call, might be easier to explain on the phone.

[18 inch Crappie]

Got a short in your radio..........

[bassman186]

Polarsusd81;

No offense takin in anyway here. We're all on this site to help one another anyway.

Yes to confirm I hear bass from subs no sound from speakers... SO you say time for a new deck? That was my guess after ripping apart the dash and finding nothing wrong with connections or anything like that... Not what I was hoping to have todo though ya know :-)

Ok now got any ideas where I guy could pick up a cheaper deck but have them install it :-)?

Thanks again;

[polarsusd81]

You would probably be best off at BestBuy or Circuit City. Ultimate Electronics does em too, (are they even around anymore?) but those are the most cost effective ways to have it installed.

[calli4120]

I agree that the speaker output on your radio is probably bad and needs to be replaced.

The deck you have has an internal amp that runs the speakers and is probably 40watts X 4channels. This is the output that is probably bad. The reason your subs still work is that they are only getting signal from the deck and no power. All the power for your subs comes from the amp.

There is another thing that you may want to check. Some times a single blown speaker can cause all of the speakers to shut down. A blown speaker can create a dead short between the positive and negative speakers wires and if your radio sees this, it will go into a "protection" mode and not send power out to any of the speakers. The easiest way to check for this is to pull the dash apart and remove the radio. Disconnect the all of the speaker wires and turn the radio back on. Reconnect the speakers 1 at a time and see if you have any sound. If you hook the first speaker up and it works but if when the second speaker up the sound cuts out, that speaker is bad and need to be replaced. Hook up the remaining speakers and test them for proper operation.

What kind of deck do you have? I know older Sony decks had a lot of probelms with the internal amp going bad.

I hope this helps.

Adam

[Farley]

Quote:

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Ok now got any ideas where I guy could pick up a cheaper deck but have them install it :-)?

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You could get a cheap deck at a pawn shop, but you'd have to install it yourself.

[Shack]

All right, how many factory speakers are you running? 2, 4 or 6?

Is it only two in door panel? Just a shot in the dark, but if you are running two factory speakers in door panel, maybe some how the fader got switched all the way to front speakers or all the way to rear speakers. Adjust fader to see if it will fix this!

Are you running speaker wires from deck to speaker out of a Pre-amp out (RCA jack) or spliced into Grey/purple or other speaker wire. If so, try using another channel (go to rear speakers or front speaker channel).

If you are running speakers on all channel out puts and you lost sound coming out of speakers, possibly your deck’s amp has internally shorted out! Thus needing a new deck!

Also check for a Mute button on. This will stop all sound to deck connected speakers, but not control mute to sub amp.

Another way around this is to use a unused set of pre-amp out connection and run to another amp and then run wires from that amp to your factory speakers! If you have an extra 2 channel or 4 channel amp sitting around!

Good luck!

[bassman186]

Well guys thanks for the help looks like this weekend I'll be searching for a new deck. Cant stand the quiet rides into work any longer :-)

Thanks for all the help fellas

[SWMuskeye]

Maybe try not putting your Ace of Base CD on full volume next time?

[hoggs222]

do a search on craigslist. You might be able to find one there.

[Dragonsm]

Just like everyone else stated, checking the fuses would be the first place I'd start. However, a few years back I almost sold off my aftermarket headunit after I thought it crapped out on me. I tried everything to get sound out of the speakers, and nothing. However, I was getting plenty from the sub in the trunk. Right before I yanked out the head unit, I removed the sub box (which the amp was on top of it and normally it sat in between my two rear speakers) Well, it was off to the one side, sitting directly underneath the one speaker's magnet. I don't remember why I started up the car (maybe it was to eject my cd out of the player) and everything worked. I don't know exactly why but it had something to do with the amp right below my rear speaker that caused them not to work (the speakers were all ran off the head unit)

If your CD player is shot, another place to look is at Crutchfield on the internet. They provide you with everything you need to install it (wiring harness, installation kit, along with detailed directions) Sometimes they have last years models they blow out and they have always been extremely helpful over the phone with me.

Steve