Recently bought a '97 4.0SE with the factory audio system. I noticed the speakers in the driver's side rear door do not work, nor does the subwoofer in the rear. Any thoughts? Could the two be connected somehow? I know from previous experience with a '95 4.0SE that there is a small amp in each door, plus one for the woofer in the back.

 

They are not related. Typically, the surrounds on the subwoofers disintegrate and they quit. Take a look at the drivers. As for the door speakers, hard to say what happened. Pull the door panel and disconnect the speakers. You can test the resistance of the drivers to see if they are ok. Should be 4 ohms. If they are ok, check for power at the amplifier in the door. You can also check for voltage at the speaker inputs. Speaker voltage is AC, so make sure you set your multimeter correctly.

 

I swapped amps for the sub and for the rear door with known working units - no change. So I know its not the amps. Could there be a break in the harness somewhere? I would think if the sub surround was disintegrating I'd hear popping and distortion...I hear nothing. I'll test for current at the amps where the harness comes in.

Thanks

 

When the surrounds on the sub wolfers fail, whats left of the cone just moves up and down, no sound.

 

Well, it turns out the left rear door speakers and sub are related in that their respective amps all get power from the same circuit and use the same ground. I also have another issue I posted about, which is the left rear overhead courtesy light not working - this too is on that same power circuit.

I'm hoping the problem is just a ground and not the power being transmitted by the BeCM connector. In any case, I tested and the radio is sending an audio signal to the amps but no power to the amps. I'll be checking the ground next (located behind panel behind sub)

 

Let me know what you find. I think I have the same problem. Also my CD changer has no power to it. I'm guessing that is on the same circuit as well.

 

Hi Chris,

The CD changer is powered directly by the radio through the CD cable (the one with the round connector on it), so not on the same circuit. In fact, only the sub amp, left rear door amp, and left rear overhead courtesy light is on that circuit. I'll post what I find out about mine though.

By the way, great looking Vitesse.

 

If you think it might be ground related, you could just run a jumper wire from a ground on one of the amps to a ground point on the vehicle and see if the amp starts working, or use a multimeter to test from continuity between the ground on the amp to a ground point on the chassis.

 

Good point, and easier than pulling sub / changer / and panel to check condition of ground. I'll try this tomorrow.

 

Did some testing - ground is fine - affected amps are not getting power. I jumpered a wire from the tail light circuit hot wire to the sub amp hot wire, turned on the parking lights and radio, and voila!...sub works.

So, it appears no power is being sent out over pin 6 of C361 on the BeCM. I will physically check with a multi-meter at that pin, but this requires removal of the passenger seat which I haven't had time to do yet. Presumably the problem is not the harness but rather the BeCM.

My question: Is this 12v constantly active to the audio amps, or only applied when the radio is turned on?

I'm thinking about possibly jumping 12V to the door amp and sub amp as a temporary solution. Can the BeCM be rebuilt? I read on rangerovers.net that it can be