Technical Door Speaker Issue

Currently reading:
Technical Door Speaker Issue

zed

New member
Joined
Sep 13, 2005
Messages
90
Points
15
Location
Falkirk
Any experts out there?

I have a 63 plate Abarth Punto Evo Supersport, have had since new.
About 18 months ago, the door speakers occasionally stopped working, whilst the speaker in the boot sounded like it was underwater. Occurred regardless of radio/CD/Aux selection.
Over time it got more frequent, and spookily it seemed to get worse when someone sat in the passenger seat.

Now, the door speakers don't work at all - the right one give a short crackle and pop about a second after ignition and then nothing. The boot speaker still gives out something.

Anyone got any suggestions without ripping out the dashboard or taking the wiring loom to pieces - for example are the speakers in series or parallel (presumably) so what would kill both of them,

Thanks...
 
Assuming factory headunit, I'd be firstly looking at the connections at the back of that to make sure they are all seated correctly. You don't need to rip out the dash, see the 4 holes in the front of the stereo? Get some stereo removal keys, push them in there and the stereo will pop out a little, pull it out and away you go!
 
This post contains affiliate links which may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.
Yes, all as standard. It has been in the garage already when it was intermittent, but I think they just did unit resets.

Your suggestion was exactly what I was thinking, but was fishing in case any one had direct experience. thanks
 
Also, I read from a previous post, is there an electronic box of tricks regarding the speakers/radio behind the passenger footwell, or do the speaker cables go direct to the speakers. Stereo removal keys are in the post
 
For info, I removed the radio and the connections out of the back are all fine. Not sure what the issue is.
 
OK, so the next thing to check is the speaker connections. If they are also fine, then either the wiring has rubbed against something and gotten cut (unlikely that this will have happened to all of them and not affected the power) or the headunit is faulty.

You could rule out the headunit if you have access to an aftermarket one and are willing to buy an appropriate wiring harness.
 
Last edited:
Aye, all 4 speakers in the cabin are silent. I reckon the speaker connections are all independent cable pairs, so yes I'm questioning the HeadUnit too. I have access to an ICE specialist so will see if they can check it out... I'd be happier if it was the HeadUnit, so not having to monkey about with the wiring and ripping panels out
 
So, ICE specialists weren't interested, so it was back to the FIAT garage.
In the end they had to raise an issue with FIAT, and after the technician following all of the advice, the FIAT specialist (apparently they have a guru that does garage visits) looked at the car in the garage.
Apparently the issue was bad soldering/connection on the ICE unit, so he re-soldered it and it's working again. If the issue comes back again will likely need a new ICE unit. Incidentally, FIAT were quoting > £500 for a new head unit.
 
So, ICE specialists weren't interested, so it was back to the FIAT garage.
In the end they had to raise an issue with FIAT, and after the technician following all of the advice, the FIAT specialist (apparently they have a guru that does garage visits) looked at the car in the garage.
Apparently the issue was bad soldering/connection on the ECU unit, so he re-soldered it and it's working again. If the issue comes back again will likely need a new ECU unit. Incidentally, FIAT were quoting > £500 for a new head unit.

Correction - ECU.
FIAT costs were ~£200 for a new ECU, and ~£500 for a new head unit.
As it was, it cost me 2 hours of labour. The technician showed me a photo of the dry solder joints
 
Correction - ECU.
FIAT costs were ~£200 for a new ECU, and ~£500 for a new head unit.
As it was, it cost me 2 hours of labour. The technician showed me a photo of the dry solder joints
Hi, I have exactly the same issue. Muffled sound from the sub-woofer and nothing elsewhere. Can you let me know where the ECU unit is please? Thanks
 
That is a good question, but I don't have the answer.
When I picked up the car, the tech was doing an MOT so couldn't be disturbed.
- The Service receptionist showed me a photo of the end of the circuit board with the dry joints, but I am unclear as to whether this was from a separate ECU from the stereo head unit (that you pull out from the dashboard) or integral ECU in the headunit
 
Back
Top