Where to look for a break in front speaker wire? '95 LE

[Heat]

The front left speaker wasn't playing and the others were sounding bad, so I swapped all four speakers and the head unit (Sony GT410U). Three of the speakers sound great but the front left one still isn't playing.

I checked the old speaker as well as the new speaker, they both have continuity so the problem isn't with the speakers. I checked the continuity between the two speaker wires just after the harness behind the head unit and the wires right before the speaker's wires - nothing.

So somewhere between the factory harness and the speaker the wire is broken. Any clues on where to look? I really need to get this fixed so I can get the door back together as well as install the center of the dash (the radio is just sitting there right now).

[Unco]

why not just run new wires from the speaker to the head unit?

[WhiteRabbit]

or better yet, to an external amp!

[Mike Gerber]

Most problems with wiring in the doors happens where the loom of wires passes in to the door. The wires in there can fray and break from all the flexing caused by the door being constantly opened and closed. Since you alreay know the color of the speaker wires from working on them, I suggest you open up that loom of wires and check the wires there for continuity. You may even be able to visually see or feel a break in them.

Mike

[Heat]

Thanks for the advice.

To make a long story short, the wire is broken within that loom of wires that passes through the door, through that little rubber thing.

I've got the speaker wire about five inches before it enters the rubber thing, and of course when it exits it, but that thing is extremely tight. I can't thread anything through. Any tips on how to do it?

Now that I'm sitting and thinking about it, I might be able to tie a wire to the bad speaker wire and pull it through, but I'm afraid it'll just pull apart - that is extremely tight in there. Any tips would be appreciated.

The good news is that now that I know the problem is not with the harness behind the radio I was able to put my dash back together. The radio looks nice and the sound is great through the three working speakers.

Oh, one other question - the speaker adapter doesn't snugly fit against that rubber speaker base inside the door. Am I supposed to put some caulk or something in there to help with bass? It's only a 2-way speaker though.