Stereo, left channel out!

[DRTDuck]

I am driving to work this morning, and the entire left channel went out. At first I thought maybe it was due just the left fron speaker since I recently upgraded, but no it is the whole left side. If you turn the balance to left, there is silence.

I presume this is in the head and the first incication that it is dying (OEM on a 96)?

Any fix, or just upgrade the head unit?

Do you think my speaker and sub upgrades pushed it over the edge?

 

[Doc]

My first guess is that you have a loose connection for the speakers.

Second guess would be the old headunit, and it's cheaper to replace than fix if that's the case.

 

[landtank]

I recently replaced my working head unit. Pretty easy to do, you just need to be aware of a few things to make life alot easier. If your interested in my old unit PM me. There is one slight defect in it though, one of the back lights for the display is out. Of course you could easily swap the front section with yours to correct that.

 

[Klunky Chris]

if your saying you just replaced speakers, I would suspect your wiring. If one speaker shorts, that hole side can go down (the outputs are linked)
re-check your wiring and make sure you don't have a short somewhere, or don't have a bad speaker. (rear even)

hopefully the head unit is protecting itself and wont be damaged, but I'd stop using it (turn off) until you get it sorted out JIK.

I would also want to know how you installed a sub to your factory system. It can be done, but there are a lot of wrong ways that could result in the problem you are having.

 

[bruiser]

95% of Electrical Problems are Mechanical Problems - Check all wiring and connections

 

[Darwood]

Also make sure the amplifier wires aren't too close to the ECU if you have the 'premium' system.

 

[DRTDuck]

Thanks, I'll check the wiring on the new speakers, I feel pretty confident as they were all soldered, but will check. I didn't think that they all on the same side might be linked together.

Klunky-
Why do you as about the sub. I installed and 8" in the stock location, just switched the wires from the old one, nothing special.

I just presumed it was the head unit, as others have complained about theirs going bad, but will check wires and report back.

While driving to a client's location today the left side did come on and off a couple of times.

 

[Klunky Chris]

Thanks, I'll check the wiring on the new speakers, I feel pretty confident as they were all soldered, but will check. I didn't think that they all on the same side might be linked together.

probably not your soldering per say, but moving the wires around has done something. Unless the replacement speakers are of a weird impedance (doubt it) *maybe* upon installation, the new speakers were deeper and the braided wires on the cone are touching the door frame (seen THAT one tooo many times ) Hard to say until you get in there

Klunky-
Why do you ask about the sub. I installed and 8" in the stock location, just switched the wires from the old one, nothing special.

OK, I was thinking you added an amp and sub.... (you have to tie into the factory wiring to do this with a factory head unit and that could cause problems.) The only thing I would wonder about is what impedance the factory sub was. You want the new sub to be the same. Again though, this shouldn't be causing the problems you're having.

While driving to a client's location today the left side did come on and off a couple of times.

this realllllly sounds like a short somewhere. If you don't see anything obvious, pull the headunit and disconnect the harness. Chech each set of speaker wires individually to see what the impedance it. One will probably come up real low or wierd.

It could be the headunit, but probably isn't

 

[jutang]

I have a similar problem with my car radioin my 1988 landcruiser. When I listen to FM radio only the right front speaker works. However all the speaker's function fine whenever I listen to the tape cassette or AM radio. Occasionally when I go over a hard bump in the road to speakers will all turn on during FM radio, but only for a short moment. I most likely have a short near the receiver, but haven't bothered trying to fix it due to my lack of knowledge of car stereos. If anyone knows of a Internet site that diagrams how to install/uninstall the car radio for this model, please let me know. Also if anyone has any advice on what I should be looking for would be also a great help.

 

[Cruiser Newb]

while your at it you might want to switch over to satellite radio. you'll never regret it.

 

[ginericLC]

You are mostly likely grounding out against the door panel where you installed the new speaker. It isn't that your connection is loose it is probably that the new speakers tabs are bumping the inner door and grounding out. Definitely get it taken care of and don't use the head unit until you get if fixed. This could burn up the entire amp in the radio. I'd tape all the connections in the door panel if they are close. I had a very similar problem a few weeks ago. I had the door panel out for some wiring not related to the stereo but I place the door panel back on in a slightly different position. If somebody slammed the door the amp would turn off the speakers. It was very annoying as I have an external amp and a sub and it would keep playing.

On the FM problem on one channel you probably have a loose connection at your antenna. Or even a poorly grounded antenna. What does it do on AM? I would not suspect the amp or speaker wiring in this case because you have both channels on the tape deck. Another problem could be not even related to your radio at all. Have you tried different stations? Very rare but a broadcast could be stronger in one channel. I've had this happen when on FM but it was when I was 150 miles away from the station and over a mountain range.