The Original i30 Owners Club
GOT PROBLEMS OR ISSUES? => GENERAL => Topic started by: Scole82 on March 31, 2016, 00:23:18
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Just purchased an I30 comfort was previously a police car in the UK but the speakers in the front are either broken or disabled. Any tips on how to check this to enable the speakers before I spend a fortune at a garage.
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Just purchased an I30 comfort was previously a police car in the UK but the speakers in the front are either broken or disabled. Any tips on how to check this to enable the speakers before I spend a fortune at a garage.
Not being in the UK market I have no idea which years an 'i30 comfort' would be - do you know which year and/or MY year yours is? I am assuming they also left the OEM headunit installed (or refitted prior to sale) - rather than fitting an aftermarket unit. And that there are rear speakers and they are working - correct?
In any case the first thing, though I suspect you will have already - if so ignore this, would be to check the Bal/Fade settings of the radio and re-center them. The car's user manual, or a separate manual for the radio (depending on the type), should cover how to do adjust them.
However I would suspect, being an used police car, that possibly (depends on the duties it was used for I suppose) the front speakers were disconnected from the OEM head-unit and might have been wired into another system (maybe comms? maybe a handsfree?) or purposely left disconnected so they wouldn't distract or drown-out things. Of course then it becomes a question of how and where.
A multi-meter would be helpful but you can get away with good eyes, ears and a battery (say an AA) for basic checking...
- The easier way to get to the audio wiring is from the head-unit end - there are two (one for FD the other GD bodies - which is basically determined by MY of the vehicle) HowTo guides on how to removed/replace/swap sticked on the board this post is in - follow the steps to get to the wiring. If it is an OEM head-unit it is likely the pinouts for the speakers at least will be the same as those shown.
- It could be as simple as looking and seeing some disconnected/cut wires which happen to be the ones that go to the speaker connections in the plug for the head-unit - and 'just' reconnecting them... I suggest soldering and heat-shrink for permanent fix or use of an insulated connector(s) (push, crimp, insulation puncturing, etc.). However for testing (or a very temp fix) twisting the matching ends together and wrapping in insulating/electrical tape will work (but I wouldn't use this as a long term fix).
- If the wiring looks fine then the next thing is to check it is connected through to the speakers and/or the speakers are connected/operating. With a multi-meter this will be relatively easy... with the plug disconnected from the head-unit and meter on resistance/ohms - measure the resistance of the +/- pair of wires for a speaker. It should be some thing like 4-8 ohms (pro-tip - short the tips of the meter together first... if the reading isn't Zero then you may need to mentally subtract the value shown to get the true reading). Check a known working speaker (if there is one) first. Without a meter you can still do it - but you might need assistance and a battery such as a new/fully charged AA... basically you connect the battery very briefly (just taping one wire actually) to the +/- pair and as the connection is made the speaker should make a static and/or click, disconnect the battery immediately (DC isn't good for speakers) - the static/click indicates the wiring is connected to the speaker and it is working.
The multi-meter method is better as it gives you a reading of the 'resistance' of the speaker (the non-complicated explanation) or not (as the case maybe) - where as the battery method only really gives proof of some sought of life. If the speakers seem to be connected then it indicates a problem with the connection to the head-unit (and/or the headunit itself) - if not then you will need to check the speaker(s) (by removing door panels) and/or tracing the speaker wires... checking the speakers will probably be quicker and also give ability of end-to-end check of each speaker wire (with a multi-meter).
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BTW :welcumwagon:
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Welcome scole82. Gareth is quite a helpful guy if you hadn't noticed :lol:
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Helpful or confusion inducing - one or the other... :D
Just one note - for the battery method I mention it only giving 'some proof of life'... by which I mean there could still be problems which could result in no sound, very attenuated sound or very crappy sound because it really only proves current flowed through one wire, through the speaker (moving the coil and speaker cone) and back along the other. However the chances of having the same problem/fault on two speakers/wiring at the same time where they pass the 'battery check' is pretty unlikely.