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'97 Wrangler - Loose Wire, No Sound

3K views 7 replies 4 participants last post by  Seakir 
#1 ·
Hello,
I believe I have a loose wire that's causing a disconnect between the radio and the speakers. The radio appears to be working fine, but the sound is intermittent. I'm looking for recommendations for someone in NJ who can take a look at it.

Thanks,
Tim
 
#2 ·
A common problem at least on XJ's.
The door jam harness over time from opening and closing the door can cause wires in that harness to break.
Also the speaker connectors could be loose or even a bad speaker but broken wires in that harness is the usual suspect.

In either case, you need to pull the door panel and manipulate the rubber boot over the harness wires back to inspect the door jam wires.
And while you have the door panel off check the speaker connectors.

Its not a bad job just take your time and there are probably Utube videos on how to.
Been there done and fixed that on my XJ.
 
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#3 ·
Is it all the speakers?

Running new speaker wire to the left and right dash speakers would be extremely simple. If you have the sound bar it would be a little more work as those wires run up the roll bar. All should be exposed though. If you're losing sound to all speakers your issues are not with the speaker wiring but the audio source.

@moparado us TJ/LJ folk aren't lucky enough to have any wiring in the doors. The front speakers are in the lower dash and the locks and windows are old school.
 
#4 ·
AHH, ok thanks for that Todd.
Yeah that XJ door jam harness is a problem waiting to happen.
OPer if you're still out there, disregard my post.

Had to pull the door panel off my XJ's driver's door a bunch of times already.
Once to repair a door jam harness broken wire for an intermittent driver's speaker
Again intermittent speaker, loose speaker terminal this time
Again to trouble shoot the passenger power window not working, bad driver's window switch pod
Again to install new speakers
Again to take care of some rust on the bottom inside of the doors
Once more to replace the driver's window regulator.
 
#5 ·
I'd say I had my XJ apart about that many times for pretty much the same reasons.

I've had the full doors on the wrangler apart once to replace the door handles. The half doors I've full rebuilt after getting them from a junkyard.
 
#8 ·
Not sure if this will be relevant, as mine's a WJ but...I swapped out the original head unit (stopped playing CD's) for an old JVC (once I had located the right plug-in adaptors for the model as I didn't fancy splicing all those wires). Every time I go over a speed bump or pot hole, you can guarantee the power cuts out to either the stereo or the speakers- the problem? There's too many wires back there now, so I have to wriggle them about as it's loose pins in that connector block off Ebay, as there's no issues when the lengths are correct and the original is in place.
If you have an after-market head unit in yours, I would check those connections going into it and those to any amps (if fitted). Definitely start at the back of the head unit first though.
Another thing to consider is whether any electrical work was done prior to the fault surfacing, and could any wires have been accidentally trapped when putting things together? I've done that in the past.
 
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