Are your drivers side speakers not working? We have the momentary fix!
This speaker issue could be referring to a lot of faults in your audio system. In this guide, we’ll address ALL suspects to determine where the actual problem comes from!
The solution only takes a minute!
To fix non-working side speakers in your vehicle, boost the gain levels and replace faulty RCA wires. Next up, reset your car’s head unit/receiver and fix issues with the audio amplifier. Lastly, identify and replace the non-working side speakers.
To learn more about this problem and why is it occurring, keep reading further!
Why Are Car Speakers Not Working On One Side?
If your car’s speakers fail to work only on one of the sides of your vehicle, this most often represents an amp or wire connection problem.
This could happen with cars/trucks with lower-quality sound systems that wear out over time.
Here’s a summary of what could cause the speakers on one side of your vehicle to fail:
- The Secondary Audio Channel is lost
- Bad or interrupted RCA setup connection
- Central Unit or Subwoofer issue
- Car stereo settings misconfiguration
- Low vehicle battery
Either way, it is utterly possible that multiple of these things impacted your car’s audio.
Remember that interacting with the car’s audio equipment and amp setup requires a bit of knowledge on how to take your vehicle apart and expose the problematic wires/components.
Let’s proceed with the solutions for the car stereo side speakers problem!
How to Fix When Drivers Side Speakers Not Working?
In order to understand and hopefully identify the source of this problem, you must follow the chronological solutions in our guide and not skip any of them.
To keep track of the problem, test your speakers after each fix attempt and call a friend for help if needed.
Here’s how to resolve the side speaker issue in your vehicle!
Solution #1 Boost the Gain Levels
First things first, you should identify any issues with your car’s head unit or radio receiver.
This device is directly connected to the amplifier, which, in turn, has all of your speakers wired up and controlling their sound levels.
When gain levels are lowered too much, the audio from your speakers will be inaudible!
Turn on your car’s radio receiver and turn up the volume. Approach the speakers with your ear and determine if they are buzzing, making any sound, or have started outputting.
Keep in mind that it is important to turn up the volume on your receiver as much as possible!
Note: Intense buzzing or distorted audio means a faulty speaker!
Solution #2 Fix Issues with the Amplifier
The amplifier is usually positioned in a panel underneath your car’s head unit.
This part is responsible for connecting all of the vehicle’s speakers and supplying them with power.
If that device goes wrong, most or perhaps ALL of your speakers will no longer output sound.
In general, a couple of things could have happened to the amplifier:
- No power is reaching the speaker’s amplifier
- The side speakers not securely connected
- Amplifier malfunction
You could troubleshoot your vehicle’s audio amp in several ways:
- Uninstall the amplifier from the panel underneath the head unit/radio.
- Take out the amp along with the wiring harness.
- Disconnect the car’s battery!
- Ensure that the red wire (power wire) is connected to the EL terminal.
- The black wire should be grounded.
- Diagnose any damage to the wires or the amp itself.
- If everything looks normal, put the amp back into its compartment.
To additionally inspect your amplifier’s condition, check whether the connectors of any of the input wires are burnt.
This can sometimes happen when the radio has been overdriven after being used for years. Such a thing happens typically on older vehicles (20+ years).
Alert: Burnt cable entries should immediately be disconnected.
Solution #3 Reset the Radio Receiver
Another easy solution you should try is to perform a reset on your car’s radio.
If there’s a software bug with the device, there’s a great chance that improper signals are being sent to the amp and one of the side speakers in your vehicle has been completely muted.
Here’s how to perform a reset on most car head units/radio receivers:
- Ensure that your radio is currently turned on.
- Locate the Power Button on the device.
- Press and hold the power button until the device turns off.
- Give the power button another long press until the receiver lights up.
- Let go of the power button.
Note: Your radio will indicate the reset when the screen blinks once or twice!
Solution #4 Examine/Replace Faulty Audio Cables
Perhaps, the audio cables could be responsible for the issue with the audio system in your vehicle.
Without a doubt, the RCA cables that your vehicle’s amplifiers use could get worn out over time and result in a partial or total audio loss in your speaker’ system.
That’s why your next step is to identify faulty speaker wires and replace them:
- Dismount each and individual side speaker that refuses to work.
- Inspect the Output RCA Cables for any damage.
- Track the cables to identify interruptions.
- Disconnect the wires from the speaker/subwoofer!
- Use a Multimeter to check whether there is voltage.
- Based on your readings, identify the bad wire.
Dead Wire?
When you’ve found a problem with the central unit’s wires and entries you’ll need to search online for the exact model replacements.
In contrast, when the problem has been found in the RCA setup on your side, it’s easy to acquire a new one and simply reconnect the cable!
Tip: Find the best RCA cable replacement for your car stereo at the bottom of this guide!
Solution #5 Replace Blown Speakers
If the problem isn’t resolved this far in our guide, then chances are that you’ve blown out some of your speakers.
Listening to high-volume music that creates a lot of distortion, has the speakers under constant vibration.
- Listening to music at a lower volume greatly preserves the speaker’s life!
How to Identify Blown Speakers?
What you will want to do is go over to the side of your vehicle where the speakers aren’t working.
Chances are that when you play something through your head unit, the speaker will start buzzing or rumbling silently.
This is not a good sign for a car speaker!
How to Replace Blown Vehicle Speakers?
To replace the blown speakers of your vehicle, follow these steps:
- Disconnect your car’s battery.
- Measure the gaps of the speaker and whether they are 2 way or not.
- Purchase appropriate size replacement speakers!
- Undo the 4 screws holding the speaker in your vehicle on each end.
- Disconnect the wires from the old speakers!
- For some speakers, you would need to solder or wrap the wires around the poles.
- Newer car stereos have connectors and can simply be plugged in.
- Embed the speakers tightly to isolate resonance and vibration!
- Test your new speakers.
Alert: Make sure to prevent input wires from touching one another to prevent short circuits.
Driver’s Side Speakers Still Not Working…
A point of interest is to take a look at your car’s power block.
This power-connecting device has all of your audio system’s cables passing through it and it itself is responsible for delivering power to all of your vehicle’s speakers.
If anything has gone wrong with the power block, some or ALL of your speakers could lose power and eventually stop working.
The problem can only be solved by a professional with a good understanding.
Good Luck!
Quick Recap:
Thus, to fix when the side speakers of your vehicle are not working, power cycle the receiver and replace any faulty speakers. Next, reset the head unit and resolve any issues with the power block. If nothing worked, replace the audio amp in your car!
Read Next: Car Speakers Not Working But Subwoofer Is?
Final Thoughts:
After learning why drivers side speakers not working and what you could do to fix this problem, we leave the rest up to you!
Remember that if you’re inexperienced with technical tasks involving your car, it’s best to leave it to someone professional or more experienced.
When you’re using a car stereo including a subwoofer then a 6-feet RCA Cable Male to Male is what you need.
The side speakers won’t work when one of the audio channels is not working because of your cable! The replacement is easy so you can’t go wrong!
Finn Wheatley holds a Master’s Degree in Computer Science from UCL, London. He helped small data science consultancy firms, helping large corporations to grow their data capabilities, deploy advanced machine learning-based analytics and troubleshoot tech-related issues. Check out more about him here.