Not The Usual Stereo Wiring Problem

[dirtdog 4]

Ok.. anyone ever fiddle with the radio wiring? I'm not asking "how to fit a headunit" etc etc. Have had my headunit in for about 6 years now and recently only plays when I lean forward...sit back properly in the seat and it goes off but the headunit is still powered...just no sound. Doesn't matter if it's aux,cd or radio..it just doesn't make any noise.

 

I've tried another headunit (a kenwood) and it works exactly the same as the first..except sometimes it displays "protected" or "protection" which I've read else where is something to do with dodgy speaker wiring? I've only chopped the blocks off the OE speaker cables and spliced spade ends on so can't see how that would be the fault

 

Looking at the haynes manual wiring guide 12.23 ,diagram 3a...(i'm pants at wiring,electrics etc) I can see the battery puts power through/into the "fuse/relay board" ...I can't work out what happens inside here apart from it leaves via wire 29B and 10c continuing along to the radio/headunit (marked 82). From there I know what the speaker cables are (220A,220,221,221A) and I know the earth is wire M29B going to earth point P121B.

 

What I don't know is what to do from here, apart from try to find the earth and see if that's ok and possibly have a look at the speaker wiring and see if anything is suspect. In the time being...if anyone has any ideas or revelations please let me know. Thanks

[welshpug 1,656]

speaker wiring randomly being trapped by moving seat?!

[dirtdog 4]

It's an odd one for sure. I didn't think any speaker wires go under the seat? I suppose they go somewhere to the back, but they are wrapped up in a bundle off other wires..boot central locking etc? Does not show them on the diagram

[Wes 86 1 Cars]

does the sound go off if you open the doors? its defo a speaker cable shorting out.

[GLPoomobile 958]

You need to look at this logically...

 

1 - You are only loosing sound, not power, correct? So when the sound goes off, you've still got a display and the HU still seems to be operating? If yes, you can rule out any problem with the power supply or earth IMO

2 - You've swapped HUs and still the same, so you've ruled out a HU fault

3 - The strange error message on the Kenwood points towards speaker wiring, which is supported by the fact you are losing sound but not power

 

So, your looking for a problem with the speaker wiring.

 

But what strikes me as odd is, why are you losing ALL sound? Given that the you have 4 speakers with cables routed in different places, I'd expect a wring porblem to manifest itself as one, or a pair of speakers losing sound. And also crackling if there is a dodgy connection.

 

What additional info do you have? Are they the OE speakers? Is it the OE wiring that's in place? Have you played with the balance and fade to make sure you have sound at all 4 speakers, and is it definitely cutting sound to all 4 when this happens?

 

If it was me, my first port of call would be to pull the HU out and inspect the connections.

 

In fact, now that I think about it, if the actual block connector had come loose in the back of the HU, that would account for the sound dropping on all 4 speakers at the same time if the connection is intermittanly cutting in and out.

 

Why is it related to your position in the car? That is a weird one. The only thing I can think of is that it could be somehow related to how much pressure you are putting on the carpet in the footwell near the pedals, as some of the wiring may be routed down there (I don't believe it is as standard, but it's certainly near there).

Edited August 25, 2012 by GLPoomobile

[brumster 135 1 Cars]

It could be the pixies. You've presumably not got an mi16 in that car, so they're depressed because they can't surge your oil and spin your bottom end, so they've moved on to other areas. I've heard rumour of rare cases of pixies diversifying to other areas of the car, but this is the first confirmation. My recommendation is put 4-leaf clovers in each corner of your car (or put an mi16 in it, then the speakers will work but you'll have to rebuild your engine every 500 miles).

[dirtdog 4]

It could be the pixies. You've presumably not got an mi16 in that car, so they're depressed because they can't surge your oil and spin your bottom end, so they've moved on to other areas. I've heard rumour of rare cases of pixies diversifying to other areas of the car, but this is the first confirmation. My recommendation is put 4-leaf clovers in each corner of your car (or put an mi16 in it, then the speakers will work but you'll have to rebuild your engine every 500 miles).

 

A mi16 would be music enough for my ears...would beat the knock knock knock I have with the xud lol. Would prefer a '6 engine in all honesty though

[dirtdog 4]

What additional info do you have? Are they the OE speakers? Is it the OE wiring that's in place? Have you played with the balance and fade to make sure you have sound at all 4 speakers, and is it definitely cutting sound to all 4 when this happens?

 

The speakers are not OE. Vibe slicks in the front and a pair of ratty 6x9s behind my seat (yes..just sitting in the rear foot well, i know i know) just until I can afford a pair to fit the standard rear holes.

 

All the wiring is OE.. up until the speakers themselves so I could put on spade connecters. Have been planning on running new ones though as the vibes came with a nice new cable.

 

I haven't yet tried the fade/balance but I always have it set central/equal. But yes...when it cuts off it does do it to all of them.

 

 

So basically GLPoo..you're saying that if it was the speaker cable shorting, then it would only shut that one off and the other 3 would still play?

 

If the block connector on the back was a bit loose...wouldn't I also loose power/display aswell as the sound?

[GLPoomobile 958]

Regarding the connection on the back of the HU, it depends how you've installed it. From what I can remember, most modern HU's have a single ISO block that serves power etc as well as speaker connections, but then they often split out to 2 seperate connection blocks, so you have speaker connections on one block and power/accessories etc on the other.

 

It's a question I can answer as I'm not well enough informed (perhaps someone with more ICE experience will know) but I wonder if both HUs do cut sound output if they sense that one of the speaker wires are shorting.

 

You say the cables are OE, but if you've got yur 6x9s on the floor behind your front seats then you must have modified the wiring to get them there. Given that, and the fact the problem is occuring when you are moving about on your seat, I'd look at the rear speakers and their wiring first.

[dirtdog 4]

Thanks for the replies. Yeah i have chopped the rear cables when they go under the rear seats and just routed about a foot or two of wire to the 6x9s. It's crude but it's not dodgy or really messy..all the chopped parts have been shrink tubed back up. The hidden parts..ie under the carpet and behind the dash are all OE.

 

I've got a ISO converter thingy so i can use the modern head units yes. Had a OE pug clarion job in it to begin with (sadly never worked). It's a square shaped block which connects into my head unit..the other end is a rectangle. I will have a check now and see if I can work out if like you say, the speakers are on one seperate block and the power/acc' are on the other.

 

 

If anyone else has any extra information it'd be greatly appreciated. Don't know if it makes a diffrence or not to the wiring but the cars a '94 but it's not all ph2 so... ph 1.75 maybe? Lol. Thanks in advice

[welshpug 1,656]

94 is 100% phase 2, or would have been originally...

[dirtdog 4]

Didn't have the holes in tailgate for the 3rd/high level brake light which I thought all ph2 had? The only thing I've noticed so far though

[Wes 86 1 Cars]

if one speaker cable shorts out it cuts the amp out in the headunit so all speakers go off.

[Cameron 16]

I cut off the standard Peugeot head unit wiring connector and replaced it with an ISO plug so I don't need to have tonnes of wiring and adaptors behind the head unit, it also meant I could put in my own speaker wiring to get rid of the bodged original stuff. Not ideal if you want to be 100% concourse but if you're going down that route you wouldn't be fitting an aftermarket stereo anyway, so I'm surprised more people don't do it.

[GLPoomobile 958]

/\ That's what I've done too, as my wiring was the usual cowboy bodge by a previous owner. I posted a topic with some photos of what I did (probably 2 or so years ago now though). You need to invest in a proper crimping tool (about £20) and get a pack of terminals suitable for Junior Timer plugs. But it's so much neater and more satisfying than soldering wires together, or using cholcolate blocks......or worse!

Edited August 26, 2012 by GLPoomobile

[dirtdog 4]

All sorted now thanks guys. I don't know what it was... but it's fixed. I cut the rear speakers out because they have been reduced to sounding like nothing more than a crackle (cheap,old,battered). Let me work on the two fronts and less room for errors. One of my front speakers was slightly iffy, had to resolder and shrink wrap it back up. It was connected but don't think i'd shrunk it down enough. All connected nice and tidy now (still have to run cables through the door). The problem seemed to be with the ISO connecters at the back of the headunit because I tackled this last and it was still giving intermittent sound. My ant' and aux lead had to be persuaded down the driver side(getting my arm up behind it was a bit of a effort with pedals in the way) and then ISO cables(which are about two foot long, can see why you cut them down lads!) were persuaded to sit as nice as possible down the passenger side. Only when i'd straightened the ISO cables out did it work...and it's worked since without skipping a beat. Think the cables were getting cramped and kinked all up into a big spaghetti junction behind the headunit...definatley getting squashed a little bit with the amount of wiring behind there. Thanks again. Will be going down the modified standard wiring/ISO plug path as soon as I get a chance