What's your guess? Door panels or dash panel??

I mentioned that for some reason the front speakers on my "new" '92 Custom Cruiser do not work. I know someone was in the door panels in the past, as I have records for the driver's door motor being replaced and all the sliders in all doors were done. That said, the door panels are perfect, tight, and do not rattle when I close any of the doors (amazing after the 96 Roady...the OCC's doors just "click" shut...no creaks or rattles, nice).

SO my thought is either the door speakers got unplugged when the windows were done, OR that the front channel on the radio is bad. Radio is the stock base-level cassette unit....works fine other than the inop front speakers.

SO what do you think folks? Radio removal first or door panels first? How hard is it to remove the dash panel on an OCC? This is my first one.

Amazingly they are forcasting today as the LAST day of 100+ for 2012 here in Austin. It's going to be 105-degrees today, but a cold front is blowing in tonight and taking the heat and humidity, and the weekend is supposed to be low 90's with no humidity....with lows in the 60's (WOO-HOO!!), so great car-working weather!

Oh and I'm considering hitting the local salvage yards for some door panel lights for the rear doors....think it's cheap Olds doesn't have them but Buick does....those can not be too hard to add... I may need to remove the driver's side rear door panel anyway, since as I mentioned that window is sticking for some reason..

One other question, since I'm so full of questions today. If I find a Delta 88-Olds 98-Cutlass ect around the same vintage with the factory CD player at the salvage yard, will that just plug in to my stock wiring? Radios are $20 at Wrench-A-Part and I might nab one if it's plug-and-play. Would like to keep the stock look inside.

Such fun!

oh and ps while I'm yarding I'm nabbing some extra horns for my 4-note conversion. Can't wait to get my hands dirty on the new toy.

-Mike

Door panels first, it's easier.

Stingroo wrote:

Door panels first, it's easier.

So removing the '92 OCC dash panel to get the radio out is a bit of a project? I may have a spare radio in the garage to plug in...with that I would know if the speakers would come on. Just was curious which was easier to get at, the door speakers or radio itself.

I sure liked how easy the '96 Roady dash came out..two screws and then pull gently.

I think it's a wash...... the dash front is the only thing that needs to come off to gain access to the radio. If I remember right there are three screws just above the speedo, then a couple more when you open the glove-box, the you just gingerly pop the panel off.

Uhmm......new avatar???.....please??

im guessing the occ dash and 91-93 roady dashes are virtually the same. they all look pretty alike. i've had mine off atleast 5 or 6 times since i bought the car last december. its complicated the first time after that its easy.

-all the screws are 7mm i believe.
-theres a row of screws along the top of the dash
-one under the parking brake release lever
-one behind the glove box door

you'll have to remove the panel that covers the lower dash on the drivers side under the steering wheel. there are 7mm screws along the bottom of it; the top is held in with fragile clips. tilt the steering wheel to the lowest position and then unscrew the tilt lever. place the gear shifter in first gear. you should now be able to remove the dash. you'll need to place some upwards pressure on the dash pad in places to squeeze the dash front off it.

hopefully that covers it. you might wanna some else to verify this all for you, im pretty hungover, or drunk, both i think. whatever.

I would isolate the speaker wires in the kick panels first and make sure that a signal is being sent
first.No use disturbing those tight door panels until you,re sure thats the problem!

Well pulled the door panels and dash panels. Still boggled. All wires are connected. I even swapped over one of my garage radios, and it only plays through the rear speakers too. I've never seen anything like this. WHY do the fronts have no sound? They're just little 4x6's....look brand new.

I'm looking for some old speakers now to see if possible both front speakers are blown...doubtful....

Complete shot in the dark, and possibly unrelated...

On mom's 91 Caprice, I swapped the Bose head unit out for a 95-up CD (non-Bose). The front speakers don't work. Check your codes to see if your head unit is supposed to be Bose.

Hi again gang...here's the rundown on new OCC's stereo issues. As mentioned above the front speakers didn't work. Well I went to the salvage yard this morning (will post a seperate thread about that) and I nabbed a top-of-the-line for 1992 Olds tape deck...for $8.



I figured the speaker issue might be the radio, and it'd be nice to have the "fancy" radio regardless. I got home and figured out how to take the dash apart...thanks for the instructions gang... It IS not rocket science but it IS a lot harder than the Roady dash was. I finally got it apart without breaking anything:



On removing the original radio, I did check that all the wires were hooked up and nothing was cut or broken. It all looked good. I plugged in the new radio and tuned the key. It came right on, power antenna went up, but still no sound from the front speakers. I was however tickled with the new radio. I liked the very-90's button look and the display was sharper than the base-cassette my came had before. That said, the original factory cassette worked fine in the car, and I figured before I buttoned it up I better check the cassette on the new radio. I slid in Full Moon Fever and it clicked in....tick-tick-tick....tick-tick-tick---nothing. DANGIT. I hit eject, and the tape would not come out. i tried to pry it out, but no, stuck tight. I removed the salvage-yard radio...cassette stuck in it, and put the original radio back in. I'll take the salvage yard radio apart later and try to get my Petty tape back.. Oh well, that was $8 bucks wasted...

I made sure the original radio still worked....it did...tape too, and then carefully put the dash back together.

SO now I figured the speaker issue HAD to be in the door panels. I took off both front door panels....carefully, and checked all the wires. Everything was hooked up and looked fine in both doors. The factory speakers were clean-as-new and looked perfect too. I was boggled...



On a whim I pulled out some old marine speakers I'd removed from my boat, and unplugged the factory speaker on the driver's side door. I plugged in the marine speaker and turned on the radio, and the marine speaker came right on!! Say what?? That means both front factory speakers on my garaged, 84-year-old previous-ownered 60K mile OCC were blown? Why? And how?




I looked around the garage from some old 4x6's from a previous project...nope. Got on Craigslist looking for some cheap used ones....nope. Looked online at Wal-Mart and Best Buy, and short of going with junk like Pyle or Audiovox, I was looking at $60 or more. I jumped in Misty's Grand Prix and drove to the local Wal-Mart...just to look, and they were having a speaker sale! I got a set of Sony Explode 4x6's for $30! Ha! For sure not high-end, but perfectly fine to get the car back together...and a nice upgrade from stock.




Installed the new speakers and they sound great. I went ahead and put on new Christmas Tree clips and then re-installed the door panels. All went fine, panels are nice and tight, and I went for a drive around the neighborhood with FOUR speakers playing for the first time since I've owned this car. MUCH BETTER! Just wish I'd had these on our 1600-mile trip home last weekend!

Car is coming along little-by-little...and since getting my hands dirty on it, it's starting to feel like MINE now.

-Mike

81X11 wrote:

Hi again gang...here's the rundown on new OCC's stereo issues. As mentioned above the front speakers didn't work. Well I went to the salvage yard this morning (will post a seperate thread about that) and I nabbed a top-of-the-line for 1992 Olds tape deck...for $8.

If you don't want that radio, and you haven't attempted to remove the tape yet, I will buy it from you. I will also get your tape back, as I have some experience with recalcitrant automotive tape decks. The belts have almost certainly turned into glop at this point.

81X11 wrote:

SO now I figured the speaker issue HAD to be in the door panels. I took off both front door panels....carefully, and checked all the wires. Everything was hooked up and looked fine in both doors. The factory speakers were clean-as-new and looked perfect too. I was boggled...

81X11 wrote:

On a whim I pulled out some old marine speakers I'd removed from my boat, and unplugged the factory speaker on the driver's side door. I plugged in the marine speaker and turned on the radio, and the marine speaker came right on!! Say what?? That means both front factory speakers on my garaged, 84-year-old previous-ownered 60K mile OCC were blown? Why? And how?

That I can't explain. I don't think it likely that the stock head unit could overpower the speakers enough to melt the voice coils. Really, the only thing that springs to mind is failure of the power amplifier, which would put a DC voltage on the speaker voice coils. That would melt them almost instantly and blow the speaker. I've never seen a Delco radio--not even a sick one--do that. I'd expect that such a failure would blow the radio fuse almost immediately.

My brother bought a 1993 Chevrolet Silverado extended cab pickup with exactly the same problem. Three of the four speakers simply didn't play at all! Why? He and I pulled them out and had a look. What we found almost totally defies explanation. The speaker cones were completely seized and could not move up and down. I ripped one apart and found no evidence of catastrophic failure. I could only guess that with their being in the dash, that perhaps the sun finally melted the varnish on the magnet wired and seized up the speaker cone. It was just plain jammed solid.

I'd be interested to know if your speakers have jammed cones. Perhaps there was a manufacturing defect. The speakers in my brother's truck were made in Mexico (IIRC). His front dash speakers look just like the ones you removed. (We don't know about the extended cab speakers yet.)

What this doesn't explain is why the ones in the extended cab part, which are not in the direct sunlight at any point, were also seized up.

Swiping a dash speaker from his '94 pickup revealed that the radio itself was fine.

All of the speakers in my wagon work just fine, though they're a bit sharp on the midrange in terms of sound. I may try those Sony speakers if a Wal-Mart store around here has them--are they a drop-in fit or is some diddling around required? Wiring adapters are not a problem.

81X11 wrote:

Installed the new speakers and they sound great.

I'm glad to hear you have sound in front once again. I can't wait to get my own stock radio repaired so the clock display goes out and the tape deck is right.

uxwbill wrote:

81X11 wrote:

Hi again gang...here's the rundown on new OCC's stereo issues. As mentioned above the front speakers didn't work. Well I went to the salvage yard this morning (will post a seperate thread about that) and I nabbed a top-of-the-line for 1992 Olds tape deck...for $8.

If you don't want that radio, and you haven't attempted to remove the tape yet, I will buy it from you. I will also get your tape back, as I have some experience with recalcitrant automotive tape decks. The belts have almost certainly turned into glop at this point.

81X11 wrote:

SO now I figured the speaker issue HAD to be in the door panels. I took off both front door panels....carefully, and checked all the wires. Everything was hooked up and looked fine in both doors. The factory speakers were clean-as-new and looked perfect too. I was boggled...

81X11 wrote:

On a whim I pulled out some old marine speakers I'd removed from my boat, and unplugged the factory speaker on the driver's side door. I plugged in the marine speaker and turned on the radio, and the marine speaker came right on!! Say what?? That means both front factory speakers on my garaged, 84-year-old previous-ownered 60K mile OCC were blown? Why? And how?

That I can't explain. I don't think it likely that the stock head unit could overpower the speakers enough to melt the voice coils. Really, the only thing that springs to mind is failure of the power amplifier, which would put a DC voltage on the speaker voice coils. That would melt them almost instantly and blow the speaker. I've never seen a Delco radio--not even a sick one--do that. I'd expect that such a failure would blow the radio fuse almost immediately.

My brother bought a 1993 Chevrolet Silverado extended cab pickup with exactly the same problem. Three of the four speakers simply didn't play at all! Why? He and I pulled them out and had a look. What we found almost totally defies explanation. The speaker cones were completely seized and could not move up and down. I ripped one apart and found no evidence of catastrophic failure. I could only guess that with their being in the dash, that perhaps the sun finally melted the varnish on the magnet wired and seized up the speaker cone. It was just plain jammed solid.

I'd be interested to know if your speakers have jammed cones. Perhaps there was a manufacturing defect. The speakers in my brother's truck were made in Mexico (IIRC). His front dash speakers look just like the ones you removed. (We don't know about the extended cab speakers yet.)

What this doesn't explain is why the ones in the extended cab part, which are not in the direct sunlight at any point, were also seized up.

Swiping a dash speaker from his '94 pickup revealed that the radio itself was fine.

All of the speakers in my wagon work just fine, though they're a bit sharp on the midrange in terms of sound. I may try those Sony speakers if a Wal-Mart store around here has them--are they a drop-in fit or is some diddling around required? Wiring adapters are not a problem.

81X11 wrote:

Installed the new speakers and they sound great.

I'm glad to hear you have sound in front once again. I can't wait to get my own stock radio repaired so the clock display goes out and the tape deck is right.

I may see about having the tape part of the radio fixed. Like you I bet it's a bad band. I like the look of the factory radio and am planning to stash as CD changer in the rear side cargo box, like I did in my 89 Custom Cruiser. Keep the stock look but have CD access. We'll see.

As for the dead speakers I removed, they're in the garbage outside the house now. I'd be curious if they were jammed...never heard of that...but not going dumpster diving.....last nights kitchen garbage is on top of them now.

As for the Sonys, using the adaptor that came with them, they bolted right too the stock speaker mounts. You screw the adaptor to the speaker (screws provided) and then the speaker to the stock door mounts, with the original hardware.

Nice mod.

-Mike

fwiw my front door speakers were both blown in my '92 roady. keep in mind it has waaay more miles then your occ but the PO (also the original owner) wasn't exactly the type of person to crank the tunes...*old guy*

just curious, was my dash front removal procedure any help?

CDs, Mike? People still have those? >_>

Stingroo wrote:

CDs, Mike? People still have those? >_>

Hey CD's are still modern to me. I do not own an Ipod or MP3 player.

I DO still own 8-tracks however...

I'd be putting an AUX jack in the back of the factory radio and running the cable to the glovebox. Then you can have MP3s on the go.

Stingroo wrote:

I'd be putting an AUX jack in the back of the factory radio and running the cable to the glovebox. Then you can have MP3s on the go.

Good idea!

I have one of those old cassette adapters with a cable on it that permitted the use of a portable CD player. It also plugs into the headphone jack of my phone or iPod.

I find this really interesting Mike. My 91 OCC I had last year came to me with nothing from the front speakers as well. I came to the same conclusion as you in the end, both front speakers were blown, they had no resistance across the terminals! Maybe it's an Olds thing

81X11 wrote:

Stingroo wrote:

CDs, Mike? People still have those? >_>

Hey CD's are still modern to me. I do not own an Ipod or MP3 player.

I DO still own 8-tracks however...

I actually made a mixtape (from CDs) the other night to play in my wagon's cassette player.

I also have a quadraphonic-capable 8-track player, for when that becomes the next big thing.

Mike,you are your own worse enemy when it comes to working on your cars.Think about how much
unnecessary work you have done to your new wagon since getting it.Lots of wasted time and
effort to fix the door speakers but at least now they work!

Flasheroo wrote:

Mike,you are your own worse enemy when it comes to working on your cars.Think about how much
unnecessary work you have done to your new wagon since getting it.Lots of wasted time and
effort to fix the door speakers but at least now they work!

If you mean pulling the dash apart...I call that a "learning experience", not unnecessary work. Now I know how to get in the dash to pull the air bag light when I get a new steering wheel, and how to get the radio out for whatever I finally do there.