When it comes to car audio, the driver side speaker is key. After all, it’s the one closest to you and therefore has the greatest potential to rock your world.
Unfortunately, if your driver side speaker isn’t working, you’re in for a pretty disappointing experience.
You’ll be missing out on all the tunes and sound effects that make driving more fun, not to mention the important safety announcements from your car stereo system.
If you’re experiencing problems with your driver side speaker, don’t despair. There are a few things you can do to try and fix the issue.
In this article, we’ll outline some of the most common causes of driver side speaker problems and suggest some solutions that might help get things back up and running again. So read on and get started troubleshooting!
Why Do Driver Side Speakers Not Working?
Are the speakers on the driver’s side of your car not working? Here are some of the most common causes:
Balance Settings
Don’t be so quick to conclude that the speakers are bad. The problem may be with your stereo or head unit. If the balance settings on your car stereo or head unit are misconfigured, the speakers on the driver’s side may produce low or no sound.
You may have inadvertently adjusted the balance control in the wrong way. If this is true, the speakers on the passenger’s side will be working while those on the driver’s side won’t.
The first thing you should do if one side of the speakers isn’t working is to check the balance settings on your car stereo. If the balance control is adjusted to the right or left, adjust it to the middle to balance sound production between the driver’s side and the passenger’s side.
In case that doesn’t fix, try resetting the head unit to see if that fixes the issue. This can solve issues that happen due to a software glitch.
If it didn’t work, then maybe there are issues with the connections.
Disconnected Wires
If your driver’s side speakers that were once working suddenly stopped working, the reason could be disconnected wires.
Over time, the speaker connection may get loose and disconnect due to the frequent movement of the door. Once any of the speaker wires are disconnected, the speaker will stop working.
You would have to open the car door panel to access the speakers and their connections. Check the speaker wires to see if they are disconnected from the speakers.
You should also check behind the car stereo and amp (if your car has one) for unplugged or disconnected speaker wires.
Reconnect any loose or disconnected speaker wires and see if the driver’s side speakers work. If the speakers work, replace the car door panel. Otherwise, the speaker wires may be broken.
Broken Wires
If there are no disconnected wires, then the connection may be broken. This is usually the most common reason why the speakers on the driver’s side won’t work.
Though the speaker wires are sheathed with hard rubber for protection, the frequent opening and shutting of the car door may sever the speaker wire.
Gently pull the speaker wires to see if any of them is broken. You can also read the wires with a multimeter or use a tester to test the wiring connections.
If you find the wiring damaged, simply replace the damaged wire and the problem should be fixed.
Blown Speaker
If you’ve checked the connections and every other thing is alright, then the speaker may be faulty. This may be the case if you have only one speaker on the driver’s side. You know it’s not likely that all the speakers from the driver’s side will blow at once.
To ascertain whether the speaker on the driver’s side is blown or not, move the speaker from the driver’s side to the passenger’s side. If the speaker works, the problem is with the wiring connection. Otherwise, the speaker is blown.
Instead of moving the speaker around, you can also do this-
Turn off your car stereo and amp, if you have one. Take out the car stereo or amp and switch the speaker wire connection.
That is, connect the left (driver’s side) speaker wire to the right channel and the right (passenger’s side) speaker wire to the left channel. Next, turn on your car stereo and amp to check if the driver’s side speaker is working as it should.
If the speaker works, the problem is with the wiring connection of the left channel. Otherwise, the speaker is blown and you need to replace the blown speaker with a new one.
Make sure that the new speaker you’re purchasing has the same power and rating as the blown one.
You may also choose to repair the blown speaker but this is not something you can do by yourself if you don’t have the skill. Before you take your blown speaker for repair, compare the cost of repair with the cost of purchasing a new speaker. Sometimes, it saves more to purchase a new speaker.
More so, you can’t match the performance of a repaired speaker with that of a new speaker. Therefore, I won’t recommend that you re-use the repaired speaker in your car but in other places where sound quality isn’t paramount.
Defective RCA Cable Connection
This concerns you if you have an amp connected to your speakers. The RCA cables are used to connect the car stereo to the amp for providing audio signals.
If the RCA cable that provides the signal for the left speaker is defective, no sound will be heard from the driver’s side speaker.
To determine whether the problem is with the RCA cable, take out the amp and unplug the RCA cables behind it.
Plug the RCA cable from the left channel of the car stereo/head unit speaker into the right channel of the amp. Don’t forget to have turned off the car stereo and amp before doing this.
Turn on the stereo and amp after switching and see if the driver’s side speaker works. If after switching the RCA cable, the driver’s side speaker works, a defective RCA cable connection is the problem. You would need to replace the RCA cables immediately.
Problem with Crossover
Sometimes, a problem with the crossover may be the reason why the driver’s side speakers aren’t working. Maybe you didn’t set the crossover right on your speakers. Just like you did in the step above, turn off the head unit and amp, and try to swap the RCA cables.
Turn on the head unit and amp and see if the driver’s side speakers now work. If the driver’s side speakers now work but the passenger’s side speaker stopped working, the crossover can be the problem.
You can choose to either replace or repair a faulty crossover. But replacing or repairing a faulty crossover involves some level of expertise. Make sure that the repair or replacement is handled by a professional to ensure that your system is safe.
Faulty Amp
Another reason why the speakers on the driver’s side of your car may fail to work is a faulty amp. Though this applies only to you if you have an amp connected to your speakers.
If you’ve tested the speaker wires and RCA cables and they are all working perfectly, then it’s possible that any of the output ports on the amp is damaged, especially the left channel.
Swap the connections of the speaker wires and RCA cables to the ports on the amp to determine the faulty port. But you need a professional to help you repair or replace the faulty port on the amp, it’s not something you can do by yourself.
Problem with the Head Unit
Finally, the issue preventing the driver’s side speaker from working maybe with your stereo/head unit. The fact that your stereo/head unit turns on doesn’t mean that it’s working perfectly. Your stereo/head unit may turn on fine but still won’t send sound signals to the speakers.
I’ll suggest that you test a different stereo/head unit with the car audio system to see if the driver’s side speakers work. If the speakers work perfectly with a different stereo/head unit, then there is a problem with the current head unit.
Look out for any unplugged or loose wires around the head unit and fix them accordingly. Also, test any onboard switch on the head unit. If you can’t notice any physical issue, the head unit possibly has a technical issue.
Consider taking your head unit to a professional for repairs, or you can purchase a new one that fits your car.
Conclusion
One side of the car speaker not working can be annoying. The problem could either be with the stereo/head unit, amp, speaker wires, crossover, or even the RCA cables.
I hope this article has been helpful in helping you identify and fix any issue making one side of your car speakers not work as expected.
If after trying out these tips your car speakers are still not working, consider taking it to a professional for repairs. Good luck!
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. What is the most common reason why one side of car speakers not working?
The most common reason why one side of a car speaker may not be working is due to an incorrect balance setting in your head unit.
If it’s misconfigured by you or any software bug, one side of your car may go quiet despite being nothing wrong with the hardware.
Q. What should I do if there is no sound coming from my car’s speakers?
The first thing you need to do when your car’s speakers aren’t producing any sound is to check the settings. Consult with your car stereo user manual to see what setting may have been misconfigured which made your speakers not work.
If you can’t find any reasonable cause or solution, you should try resetting your stereo system before going into any hardware troubleshooting techniques.
Q. How do I check if my speaker wires are working?
A great way to test if your speaker wires are working is to use a multimeter. Connect the multimeter probes on both ends of the wire, make sure that your multimeter is set to Ohm (Ω) and see what it reads.
The reading should not be ‘OL’. If it is, then the wire is faulty. If you don’t have a multimeter and the speaker is still working, try swapping the wire to the other side and see if that helps.