Intermittent Factory Speakers (Some Cut Out)

Soul Shinobi · Post by **Soul Shinobi** » Sun Apr 13, 2008 5:39 pm

My 1992 Legacy L AWD with 263,000+ miles has astoundingly few problems. However, every once in a while I'll loose sound from some speakers (the rear ones? the right side? I'm not sure, it's really hard to tell). Audio clarity from the remaining speakers is not reduced (for an old factory system my car sounds great, really). My sound system is completely factory as far as I know, and I do not have tweeters.

I looked up wiring diagrams on ALLDATA and found two versions, Japan Made and US Made. I don't know what this refers to, or which my car is. Below are the two diagrams.

http://home.comcast.net/~subrosa135/car ... n_made.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~subrosa135/car ... s_made.jpg

So, I'm not sure what the problem is or how to go about fixing it. I do know that it's not the connectors at the back of the stereo, because I've cleaned those with rubbing alcohol and made sure they're in firmly.

Has this happened to anyone else? Any ideas?

ericem · Post by **ericem** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 3:02 am

I didn't know there was a subwoofer in these cars. Im thinking headunit but it could be a wire shortening out. Maybe open it up and blow out the dust and shake around the head unit etc see if it turns on and off.

Soul Shinobi · Post by **Soul Shinobi** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 3:41 am

I could have gone wrong somewhere, but wasn't there a factory sub option that placed them under the front seats? Hmm, I think I may actually have been thinking about a newer Legacy. I'll edit the first post and topic title to exclude the mention of a sub.

By headunit you mean the radio itself, right?

Saskatoon Subaru · Post by **Saskatoon Subaru** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 3:45 am

i'd say check the connections at the speakers they may be loose

Soul Shinobi · Post by **Soul Shinobi** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 3:53 am

The loss in sound includes a great loss in bass, so it'd likely be the rear speakers, right? I'll have a quick look in the garage right now. Alright, I looked at the connector for the rear speakers and have NO idea how to take it off. I pulled firmly but felt like I was going to break it. Is there some kind of trick, or just delicate force? There were clips on the side of the connector but undoing them seemed to do nothing.

Saskatoon Subaru · Post by **Saskatoon Subaru** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 1:29 pm

huh maybe your radio is just on its way out. I guess that not impossible seeing the age of the car.

Soul Shinobi · Post by **Soul Shinobi** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 3:53 pm

I would hope not, it sounds so damn good most of the time, and that's running through a cassette tape adapter too! I'll see if I can check and clean speaker connectors today.

tahiti350 · Post by **tahiti350** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 4:04 pm

I just put a different head unit in my White wagon, and the first day I drove it after that the left side speakers died a couple of time going to and coming home from work. I played witht he fader and balance knob, and could bet them to start working again by pushing it all the way in and holding it there (just makes it harder to drive that way). Next day everything worked fine, and has been good since (one week and counting.

If you can't fix it just go hit the local wrecking yard and grab a replacement. they take about 15 minutes to swap out...

internetautomart · Post by **internetautomart** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 2:25 pm

I went through this on my 2 most recent legacies. it turned out to be a bad head unit in the second case. first one I never fixed, sold the car, but I think it was also the H/U
and an FYI, it's a common issue. one of my mechanics has a 92 legacy with the same issue (all factory H/Us)

Soul Shinobi · Post by **Soul Shinobi** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 10:10 pm

Hmm, maybe I'll open it up someday then. I once repaired a home system sub woofer by finding and soldering cracked connections, I was quite proud of myself.

I need some good soldering equipment, I'd do so much more.

internetautomart · Post by **internetautomart** » Wed Apr 16, 2008 1:55 am

I just threw out my factory HU earlier today, and then decided that I should put it back in and sell the car. by then it was gone though, along with the cluster and faceless radio I threw out.

Richard · Post by **Richard** » Wed Apr 16, 2008 4:19 am

Soul Shinobi wrote:Hmm, maybe I'll open it up someday then. I once repaired a home system sub woofer by finding and soldering cracked connections, I was quite proud of myself. I need some good soldering equipment, I'd do so much more.

Absolutely the best butane powered soldering tool I have ever used. Reliable, efficient, and rock solid feel. Almost always starts on first try, unlike the crappy "installer's choice" crap. We bought one at work and bought two more since trying it out. The kits come with some great add-on tools as well.

http://www.steinel.net/products/gas_tor ... r_kits.cfm

Coy · Post by **Coy** » Tue May 20, 2008 6:59 am

i had this issue on my 92 HU. the passenger side front speaker turns on and off when i hit bumps and potholes. a couple months ago i got a headunit from a car at the salvage (with slave CD).

i got the whole stereo from the salvage because i had the aux port on the front of my original and the one i had gotten didnt. i assumed that maybe if i took off that rear part of the salvaged stereo that the harness plugs into maybe it would fix my speaker problem if i put it onto my original stereo and hooked the cd player up to it. i did so and it did fix the speaker problem but the new rear section didnt light up the face and didnt hold memory.

so in all that i would say that if anyone wants to fix that, go to a salvage and take off that rear section and try it instead of taking the whole headunit. (id bet it would be cheaper than dirt thata way)

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Intermittent Factory Speakers (Some Cut Out)

Intermittent Factory Speakers (Some Cut Out)