dodge ram, no right side audio

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joe_b

Member - Posts: 7

Joined: July 25, 2004

Posted: July 26, 2004 at 12:43 PM / IP Logged

I'm glad I found this website - I hope someone can help me with my problem.

I have a 2001 dodge 3/4 ton (diesel) Ram. I have the factory installed radio with CD player (it's not the more expensive infinity system).

About a month ago the right side speakers quit working. They will occasionally work for a few seconds then crap out again, and that is usually first thing in the morning, but it can happen when the truck is warm too. I made sure the stereo itself is outputing to the right side by putting some jumpers from the right side output to the left side speakers and the speakers indeed worked.

This leads me to believe there is a problem with the wriring harness at some point. I am guessing there is some sort of crossover since I have the small tweeter on the column and a larger speaker in the door, which are both the "front" speakers. I don't know if this has any bearing on the problem or not.

Has anybody dealt with this problem before, or can someone point me to the actual cabling diagrams for the stereo (I mean a diagram that shows the actual cable routing)?

Thanks in advance,

Joe

forbidden

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Joined: November 01, 2003

Location: Alberta, Canada

Posted: July 26, 2004 at 1:47 PM / IP Logged

To me this does not sound like a cabling issue at all. It sounds like a cold solder joint or the speaker is dead shorting. Swap the door speakers side to side, if the problem moves to the drivers door, the speaker is the culprit. If the sound stays on the pass side, then chances are the cd player is the culprit.

I am going to assume that you have front and rear speakers and that the entire right side goes out, not just the front right speaker. If this is the case it sure sounds like either a cold solder joint in the cd player or a speaker going to ground.

Top Secret, I can tell you but then my wife will kill me.

fuseblower

Silver - Posts: 403

Joined: June 25, 2003

Location: United States

Posted: July 26, 2004 at 1:58 PM / IP Logged

Sounds like you do have the Infinity system. Normally when there is a tweeter mounted in the a-pod that means an upgraded system was installed. But on to you problem.

If you are getting constant output from your radio and your speaker comes on somtimes and than goes out it sounds like you may have a bad speaker or a lose wire some where. I would slightly shake all of my wiring will the radio is on and see what happens. If you move the lose wire the speaker may fade in and out. If this does not work check the speakers. One easy way to test your speaker is to remove the cover from over the speaker turn your radio on and listen to it for a while. If the speaker cuts out push lightly on the speaker cone to see if it will come back on. If the speaker comes back on it this normally means that you have a lose VC wire in or on the connectors of the speaker and it needs to be replaced. Hope that this helps.

joe_b

Member - Posts: 7

Joined: July 25, 2004

Posted: July 26, 2004 at 2:48 PM / IP Logged

Thanks for the advice guys,

I'm just wondering even if one speaker is going to ground why would both the front and rear speakers go out? If there is some commonality in the wiring I would understand.

Is there a way to do an ohm check of the signal path to the speakers from the connectors to the stereo (I'm trying to avoid taking my door panel off until I have too)? I tried it but the ohm reading I got were much higher than I anticipated (about 10k), but at the time I didn't consider the effects a crossover circuit might have.

I really think that the CD player is not the culprit becasue the driver side speakers work with the passenger side outputs from the stereo.

I've already tried shaking wires that I have access too, but I'm not sure where all the connctors are in the harness as it's a bit tight behind the dash.

Thanks again for the advice.

Joe

forbidden

Platinum - Posts: 5,352

Joined: November 01, 2003

Location: Alberta, Canada

Posted: July 26, 2004 at 3:06 PM / IP Logged

Take the door panel off, it is real easy in this vehicle. It will also tell you right away if the system is amplified or not.

The speakers in most headunits use amplifiers that are common to each side of the vehicle, thus a speaker going to ground will afect all speakers on that side.

Top Secret, I can tell you but then my wife will kill me.

Ravendarat

Platinum - Posts: 2,806

Joined: February 23, 2004

Location: Canada

Posted: July 26, 2004 at 3:15 PM / IP Logged

I have ran into this exact problem before on the ram trucks. The factory head units will cut out the entire side if one speaker is either a)grounding out, or b)blown to the point of shirting. I have seen the tinsel leads on the factory speakers ground out on the basket of the speaker. The best way to test it out is to simply put tape on the basket on the side where the tinsel leads are so there is no exposed metal. Put the speaker back in and see if it works. Like I said, I ran into the same problem on a couple of ocasions and those are the two problems I have found to cause it.

double-secret reverse-osmosis speaker-cone-induced high-level interference distortion, Its a killer

joe_b

Member - Posts: 7

Joined: July 25, 2004

Posted: July 27, 2004 at 8:51 AM / IP Logged

fuseblower - your right, I do have the infinity system. It wasn't on the original invoice but I'll take it.

Ravendarat - I took off the passenger side door panel (now I have to buy some tabs to put it back on) and checked the wiring on the speaker. everything looks good. I guess I'll check out the rear door speaker next. Then I suppose the tweeter.

Any other ideas of how to troubleshoot this. I'm obiously unfamiliar with the amplified systems. I wasn't expecting all those wires to be connected to the speaker!

fuseblower

Silver - Posts: 403

Joined: June 25, 2003

Location: United States

Posted: July 27, 2004 at 12:52 PM / IP Logged

Joe_b, one easy way to remove the panel and not break the clips is the use a nail puller since you might have one hanging around. Since you are removing your panels you can try disconnecting the speakers one at a time and seeing if that stops your system from cutting off. If it cuts out with your front speaker removed, reconnect the front speaker and disconnect the rear. If this works it sound like your rears are out.

kgerry

Platinum - Posts: 3,455

This member consistently provides reliable information

Joined: February 07, 2004

Location: Saskatchewan, Canada

Posted: July 27, 2004 at 4:04 PM / IP Logged

actually i would test for a dead one side problem at the radio...why tear off doors panels needlessly... pull the radio, disconnect the speaker plug and meter the wiring for a short to ground...if no short is found then plug the harness back in and test the actual connector with the tinned leads of a test speaker...if you get audio on your test speaker you have a bum speaker or section of speaker wiring in the vehicle, if you have no audio right at the connector then you have a problem in the radio itself....

if your radio has the joystick fader control on it then that is probably the culprit...we replace lots of these controls for going... you guessed it, dead one side....

Kevin Gerry

Certified Electronics Technician

MECP First Class Installer

Owner/Installer

Classic Car Audio

since 1979

joe_b

Member - Posts: 7

Joined: July 25, 2004

Posted: July 29, 2004 at 11:05 PM / IP Logged

well, remember how I said it was intermitant, but mostly not working?

In the process of troubleshooting I removed the passenger side door speaker and plugged it into the driver side door harness. It worked, so no problem with the speaker, right?

Two days later and I am pulling my hair out after downloading the wiring schematics from chrysler and ohming out every connection. Nothing makes sense. Everything says it should work. So in a last ditch effort I place the drivers side speaker in the passenger door. It works. I place the passenger side speaker in the drivers door. It works. For about three seconds then it's out.

So now it's time to get another speaker from the dealer, unless someone knows where I can get the same infinity speaker elsewhere.

What a pain in the rear.

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