I recently purchased a 1998 Mustang convertible from Craigslist. While all of the major mechanical components are in excellent working condition, there are small, chintzy issues with the vehicle.

One of the issues is the front speakers. Installed in the vehicle is the stock radio/cassette/CD player, with the premium sound amp. Since it's not a MACH setup, there are only the 2 door front speakers and the 2 rear quarter-panel speakers.

Neither of the front speakers worked. I went through some troubleshooting to try to figure where the problem was:

1. I removed the stock units and unplugged all the harnesses. I checked the harnesses for proper connections at the plugs, and reseated all the wires. Front speakers still didn't work, so it wasn't the connections.

2. I removed the door panels to check that there were even speakers there. The speakers were there, and when I removed them and hooked them up to my home theater, they worked perfectly. I reseated the connections. They still didn't work, so it wasn't the speakers.

3. I was going to replace the stock unit anyway, so I purchased/installed an aftermarket unit. I hooked up the harnesses and bypassed the amp. Still no sound out of the front speakers, so it wasn't the stock unit OR the amp.

Are there other places I can troubleshoot, or am I going to need to take her in to a shop to check the chassis wiring?

 

Pre-emptive reply: Yes, I checked the fader, too.

 

lol.

Seems like an odd problem. Try running new wires off the deck leads and just hold one of the speakers on your lap or w/e in the car, if it works, just run new wires through the door. About all I can think of off hand is some bad wires. The rest of your cars electrical system shouldn't have any bearing on your front speakers working or not. Your whole stereo, sure, but not just a couple speakers.

 

so far it just sounds like some blown speakers. Did you hit the bypass hrns or how did you bypass the amp? The premium, non-mach systems have always been a little confusing as they were not really popular and I have never been in one.

Just out of curiosity, did you check all the fuses? IF there is an amp, there is a fuse.......

 

Speakers are working. I took them out of my car and hooked them up to my home stereo. They worked beautifully. I also used the amp bypass harnesses on the passenger side of the console cavity with the new unit, so the wires - in theory - should be running directly from the unit to the speakers.

Mook, I think that you're probably right. I was just hoping that I wouldn't have to run too much wire on my own (personally I think it's a PITA, but I know other people don't mind). I guess I really should just grab my voltmeter and see if I can pinpoint the break. I just thought that it was odd that it was BOTH front speakers and that there would be some other underlying issue I could fix.

 

ahh it's cake for the fronts. Just use some zip ties under the dash. Just make sure you really cinch 'em up under the drivers side tight so they don't start falling by your pedals.