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).
