96 Camry Stock Speaker/Wiring Mystery - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

ctbear · 08-15-2009, 08:00 PM

So my Camry has been running happily all these years. About 3 years (rough estimate) ago the Front Left and Rear Right speakers suddenly stopped working. I was too lazy to do anything then...but this summer I took it upon myself to fix them. All fuses are in working order.

I've tested both speakers (9Volt Battery test after removing speaker from door panel) and found that the Front Left speaker is working perfectly fine, while the Rear Right speaker appears to be dead (haven't removed it yet to confirm by directly wiring it to new aftermarket Sony radio receiver).

Removing the radio receiver, I unwound the wiring corresponding to the Front Left speaker (it looked really sloppy) and reattached it thinking that would fix it. Nope. Nothing. Directly connecting that speaker to radio receiver works fine. So....there seems to be something wrong with the wiring between the Radio Receiver and Front Left speaker. I removed the side kick guards up front to reveal a bunch of wires, which are all connected with a modular plug.

I don't know where else to check in the wiring that might create an issue. The places I can easily see/access don't seem to show anything wrong with the wiring. Ammeter reading Does Not pick up any reading from plug in the door panel that plugs into the speaker....everywhere else it does.

Thanks in advance for helping!

Strum · 08-15-2009, 08:24 PM

I can't help you, but you might have better success if you post the question over at Audio, Video, and Security forum. It's not that you won't get answers here, but the audio group may be more familiar with the problem.

http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/11-audio-video-security-tech/

ctbear · 08-16-2009, 02:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Strum

I can't help you, but you might have better success if you post the question over at Audio, Video, and Security forum. It's not that you won't get answers here, but the audio group may be more familiar with the problem.

http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=11

Thanks for the tip!

***zoni*** · 08-17-2009, 07:47 PM

the door speaker is more than likely not working because of a wire cut in the boot of the door harness.. sometimes the wires get cut inside that boot and locks dont work or windows or speakers.. so im gonna go with that for your door speaker.. test it by using your meter on the connection at the plug end inside the car and the speaker connection under the door panel..

open your door, disconnect the plugs from the inside of the car where the wires come in... pulll out the wires and the boot and pull the boot out from the door side too.. now you have room to work... make a slice down the middle of the rubber with a razor blade... then inspect the wires... fix each wire that is slit.. tape up the rubber all nice nice and put it back together. thank me later.

most likely your rear speaker is a totally unrelated issue... who knows with that one...

ctbear · 08-17-2009, 09:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zoni

the door speaker is more than likely not working because of a wire cut in the boot of the door harness.. sometimes the wires get cut inside that boot and locks dont work or windows or speakers.. so im gonna go with that for your door speaker.. test it by using your meter on the connection at the plug end inside the car and the speaker connection under the door panel..

open your door, disconnect the plugs from the inside of the car where the wires come in... pulll out the wires and the boot and pull the boot out from the door side too.. now you have room to work... make a slice down the middle of the rubber with a razor blade... then inspect the wires... fix each wire that is slit.. tape up the rubber all nice nice and put it back together. thank me later.

most likely your rear speaker is a totally unrelated issue... who knows with that one...

You may have a good point there...because the electronic lock on that door (driver side door) doesn't work. I have to always manually use the key or push it with fingers to lock/unlock it. Hmmm....will look into it. Yea...I did actually test the modular terminal that's suppose to connect to speaker on the door...it doesn't have a reading. So, somewhere along the line...it's getting cut off. What do you mean by the "connection at the plug end inside the car." Is that under the kick panel on driver's side? Yea...I think the rear speaker is just DEAD...because it failed the 9 volt battery test I tried. Thanks!

BTW: Should I remove the 2nd layer of the door panel to access the wires? The metal layer that's behind the door panel. First remove door panel (foam), then there's this 2nd metal layer because the wires wrap around that before it connects from door to the car. (btw what does the boot refer to?) thanks...srry if I sound like a noob. Just trying to learn to service my car by myself. Recently, I replaced the power antenna due to broken plastic drive chain.

***zoni*** · 08-18-2009, 02:20 AM

you really dont have to take the door panel off... you just need to yank the boot out of the hole... so you can get some room to fix the wires... what i did was solder like a 2 inch piece of new wire on there for each of the cut wires... with heat shrink tubing to cover that and then tape heavily over the spot that got cut to prevent future wear.

i can pretty much say this is your problem... especially knowing your lock issue as well.. its for sure, fix those wires and your hassles are over.

SexieWASD · 08-18-2009, 06:25 AM

I've had to do the same thing in three doors so far, old wires that move a lot are going to break sometime.

ctbear · 08-18-2009, 07:16 PM

Nvm...I get what you're saying. Pulling out the wires and the rubber boot is a pain especially because with the door fully open, the gap between door and car is pretty tight, making it narrow and difficult to work in. Also, the wires are taped down inside the door, removing the door panel to get to this tape will make it easier to pull out the whole bunch of wires I think...which is what I'm trying to do now....

whip_cracker · 08-18-2009, 08:42 PM

Good luck mate... lol!

I spent a good few hours rewiring my front speakers when I was installing the amp and head unit a couple of years ago. I took the small kickpanel off on the inside of the footwells on the inside of the front doors to get to the wiring. The rubber grommets are quite hard to get in and out, but once it's done, you'll be happy

I sure as hell know I was lol

ctbear · 08-18-2009, 09:16 PM

Good News! I've found the one Negative Terminal wire connecting to the Left Front speaker that was broken in half and hidden underneath of the rubber boot. So that's the source of the messed up speaker.
Can't find the source of the Front Left Automatic Door Lock not working though....

whip_cracker · 08-18-2009, 10:49 PM

Good to see you sorted the speaker out.

Sounds obvious that you have a problem with the electrical cabling too... I'd get a new piece of power cable, thread that through the rubber boot and grommets and cut the power cable on each end and solder the connections on each end to the new power cable. If that doesn't work... well, then yeah, you're gonna have to try something else! hahahah

ctbear · 08-19-2009, 01:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by whip_cracker

Good to see you sorted the speaker out.

Sounds obvious that you have a problem with the electrical cabling too... I'd get a new piece of power cable, thread that through the rubber boot and grommets and cut the power cable on each end and solder the connections on each end to the new power cable. If that doesn't work... well, then yeah, you're gonna have to try something else! hahahah

What do you mean by a problem with the electrical cabling? All electronics (window switches, controls) on the Left Front Door (Driver Side Door) WORKS, except the lock on the door does not. Is the power cable you are referring to the one that powers the Door Lock?

I don't see any damages in the wires behind the rubber boot that work the Door Lock...maybe I have to further disassemble the Door to get to the lock mechanism inside??

ctbear · 08-19-2009, 06:26 PM

Wow...that black tar stuff on the door (after removing door panel) is a pain in the ass to clean. I got some on the driver's seat =[

EDIT:

So now that I've solved my speaker issue...I'm trying to see if I can fix the door lock on that same door as well (front left).
When I push the corresponding button to lock all the doors, they all lock (with audible click sound) except for the driver's door. Putting my head to the door itself, I don't hear anything that would hint that the door is attempting to lock itself. No noise comes from the driver's door lock mechanism when locking all doors.

There doesn't seem to be any other wires that are visibly broken underneath the rubber boot part of the wires that would relate to the door lock issue. Hmm.....is the mechanism itself broken? (there were a couple of times where someone would be pulling on the door handle at the same time that I push the button to unlock the doors....does that damage the mechanism? It has happened on other doors...but they seem to work fine) Anywhere else I should be checking the electrical layout before I put the wires and rubber boot back?

ctbear · 08-19-2009, 06:50 PM

Could it be a problem with the lock actuator on driver's door??

SexieWASD · 08-20-2009, 05:52 AM

Check that the actuator is getting power when you press the button, if it's not than it's not the problem.