intermittent car stereo speakers

[ansys]

Hi there, I’ve had a strange problem pop up recently on my SW20. It has an aftermarket stereo, and while driving along recently, the sound just went out. No speaker crackle or anything, just all of a sudden silent from all speakers. On the same drive, the sound eventually came back on its own. These days it mostly just doesn’t work, though I can sometimes get the sound to be there if I turn on/off the car electronics a few times (with the car parked and engine off). The stereo usually cuts out again after a few minutes.

Everything else stereo related seems to work normally. The stereo display and everything still functions as normal, seeking out other stations, etc.

While it’s probably unrelated, during this time my alternator belt was a little loose. I’ve since tightened it, but that was only yesterday.

Thanks in advance for any help!

[GDII]

If the alternator was causing issues you'd probably have a very dashboard lights on too. Or if not low voltage to the stereo could cause sound to cut out.

The only thing I can think of would be to check all the wiring to and from the stereo. You say it is aftermarket so someone could have messed with the wiring and it could have come loose behind the dash.
Best thing to do would be to remove the stereo from the dashboard and check the wiring behind it.

[mknz]

Check the connections are clean and secure first. If that doesn't fix it then you may have a broken wire

[ansys]

yeah, I haven't gotten around to checking the connections behind the stereo unit. Just seems bizarre to me that the connection would wiggle loose after having the car for a couple of years. I'll hopefully get to it later today and update here.

Another note that might help. Around the same time, I noticed that my passenger door was stuck closed. I eventually forced it open (seems like door handle is a little tight feeling or something??) and seems to be a bit better now. However, is there a chance issues with some speaker wires in the door would shut down the whole speaker system? If it were something like that, I wouldn't have thought that the radio cutting in/out would be so "clean" sounding without any of that typical speaker crackle.

[ansys]

UPDATE

I took apart the dash and pulled the stereo head unit out. All looked fine...

symptoms I was getting...
I could turn the key to the ACC position, and get the sound to work, but as soon as I started the car, sound went away...
shut down the car, wait a bit, key back into ACC position and sound would work almost always.
cycle between off and ACC several times and sound works each time...
as soon as I try starting the engine though, sounds goes away....

frustrating as all heck

somehow on a whim, while the stereo was working w/ the key in the ACC position, I decided to open the passenger door and voila. As I was closing the door again, the sound would go away as the door was half open. I could then turn on/off the radio by opening/closing the passenger side door. I tried manipulating the harness from the footwell and the gap between door and frame, but that didn't have any effect

next step, take apart the door... are there any write ups on that lurking around?

[rocco26]

Go down to cash converters ,buy a same brand stereo( same wiring harness) for $40.Sounds like a fault in the stereo . All those other faults seem unrelated.

[ansys]

yeah, my guess is a pinched wire somewhere in the door harness area. I might have a crack at it this weekend and see how it goes.

[mknz]

Sounds like a wire has broken insulation and is shorting causing the stereo to protect itself and turn off the speakers

[rocco26]

If you suspect the wiring loom going thru the door , disconnect the speaker wiring to that door at the harness end and see if that makes a difference. Do you have rear speakers ? If so:
Disconnect both front speakers.the colors for aftermarket front speakers are usually white, white/black stripe .front left and grey, grey/black stripe front right.
Try to narrow the faults one by one.

[ansys]

Just wanted to update people in case anyone else comes across this thread in the future. Turns out there was a wire that had been cut in the conduit between the door and chassis, and once that was fixed, all the problems were solved. Here's a pretty good write up on a fix for it:
http://www.stephenmason.com/cars/mr2doorwire.html

[GDII]

That's good you figured it out. These cars are bad for breaking wires there.

Now I need to do mine to fix up my mirror controls and suspected broken interior door light wires.