Xantia intermittent stereo

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DanClarke
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Xantia intermittent stereo

Post by DanClarke »

I have a 2000-V Xantia with the standard radio/CD player. Intermittently I have no sound coming from the right speakers (front and rear). I've never actually heard it cut out; it's just there sometimes and not others.
I've checked the speakers are and they're OK. The problem is no connectivity between the terminal block at the back of the stereo and the right side speakers.
The wires disappear into the loom behind the radio, but I assume somewhere there's a connector that might be at fault. Come to think about it I guess there's a crossover too, since there are seperate tweeters in the dash.
Does anyone know how the speakers are wired, and where the connector/crossover is? Any suggestions gratefully received.
Thanks,
Dan.
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AndersDK
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Post by AndersDK »

Hi Dan -
Don't think a schematic would be a real help - other than to discover the wiring is pretty common for a stereo.
The schematic won't tell in details where the wires are to be found anyway - so you're back to the good old fiddly fault tracing procedure involving dismantling of door covers etc.
From y's of car DIY experience - it's common knowledge that any wirings to the doors allways are weak points - because of the wire bundle stressed in the gaiter from door to pillar. This includes the 2 most common problems : either a wire is chafed and get's shortcircuited to earth (intermittent or constant) - or a wire is simply sheared (even a hidden shear inside the cable isolation).
This means you often have to visually inspect the entire cable run - fiddly & time consuming.
Common fault tracing procedures involves substituting the failing circuit with known working circuits as this can be tested out during driving.
First issue would be to determine if it's the stereo unit istself - or the speakers/cabling that fails. This is best done by substituting the existing speakers/cabling - and test the stereo while driving.
DanClarke
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Post by DanClarke »

Thanks Anders. The reason I don't think it's the connections in the doors is that all three speakers (dashboard tweeter, front door and rear door) cut out simultaneously. It seems unlikely that the connection into the front and rear door would both be severed at the same time. Also if it was an earth problem I would expect to hear crackling, or the speakers cutting in and out as I went round corners or over bumps or something.
That said I think your advice is sound - I'll just run new connections from the back of the stereo to the speakers. Of course I'll still have to work out where they go...!
Thanks again,
Dan.
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AndersDK
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Post by AndersDK »

Dan -
You're completely right that wiring faults often are accompanied by the wellknown crackling from speakers - but to my experience it's certainly not a rule.
As it's all your speakers one side failing - and no crackling heard - I suspect it's either a chafed wire getting earthed somewhere - or an intermittent disrupted cable right off the stereo - even the unit itself being faulty inside.
I have a good old wire tracer which howls when connections are good - perfect as an earth fault tracer in cables during the running car's vibrations.
Same test facility is often found in cheap hobby multimeters.
blueboy2001
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Post by blueboy2001 »

I had a similar problem on a Saxo a few years ago - the left hand audio kept cutting out. It was caused by a dry joint in the headunit.
davey
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Post by davey »

blueboy and anders have most covered there. but .... one speaker/cable with a fault can cause you to lose all 3. Simply because the amp is stereo (2 ch) these outputs are then split thru the fader but effectively all three speakers are still on the rh channel. Fortuanately most modern pwr amps have short cct/over temp protection etc and will shut down the amp under these conditions.
There is no crossover on the xantia for the tweeters, a 2nd pair of wires run from the ISO connector direct to the tweeters which have a cheap and cheerful crossover (capacitor) attached.
If you are any good with a mutlimeter ... you can disconnect the ISO speaker connector on the back of the head unit. Measure each cable pair (4 pairs in block - tweeters and fronts are common) and they should all be about 4 ohms ... anything much less (1-2 ohms) is a problem.
If that doesn't help disconnect RH tweeter, front & rear speaker and measure each cable with respect to ground - it should be open cct (move doors while checking as fault may show).
These steps will identify if a cable set is at fault. Unfortunately as blueboy says a dry joint will also give exactly the same symptoms.
Speaker coils are also known to go short so check resistance of these too - gently move cone while doing this - resistance should stay the same at 4 ohms.
Enjoy & good luck.
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