C3 Speaker troubleshooting tips (1971)

[Mick D.]

I've noticed my left speaker is non operational, passenger side seems very healthy.

I'm pretty good with electrics, but don't want to go pulling things apart that I do not need to as the car is pretty much perfect beyond that.

I'm just wondering if this is this a common occurrence and wanted to check if folks have suggestions for efficiently diagnosing the problem?

[Jeffrey S.]

Re: C3 Speaker troubleshooting tips (1971)

How ironic! I was going to pull the left hand kick panel off my '69 to try to diagnose the exact same condition. I have all new (NOS GM) speakers installed a few years ago and just had the condition start at the end of last driving season. I was going to ask the same question as soon as I had the panel off. Let's learn together.
Jeff

[Mick D.]

Re: C3 Speaker troubleshooting tips (1971)

"all new (NOS GM) speakers"

This is an example of why I started this thread. I'm assuming that these speakers are still in good condition (and I think mine are too), leading me to believe that this may be some wiring, or other problem that may not even be at the speaker.

i.e could it be oxidization at the connections at the back of the radio?

Hoping some C3 audio expert can chime in!

How ironic! I was going to pull the left hand kick panel off my '69 to try to diagnose the exact same condition. I have all new (NOS GM) speakers installed a few years ago and just had the condition start at the end of last driving season. I was going to ask the same question as soon as I had the panel off. Let's learn together.
Jeff

[Dan A.]

Re: C3 Speaker troubleshooting tips (1971)

Michael,

This is a long shot but I had this issue recently with my 72’s left front speaker. I removed the right side lower dash panel and removed & cleaned all of the speaker connections I could find that were easy to access. I was probably just lucky but it worked for me as a last ditch effort before I had to deal with the left speaker.

[Mick D.]

Re: C3 Speaker troubleshooting tips (1971)

Thank you Dan, that sounds like a great first step! Once contacts/connections get dirty they can limit current flow, so I will try this first. I have some "De-oxit" contact cleaner which I can use. ill report back, although knowing my luck, I will remove the panel and there will be no speaker, and that will have been the problem!

Michael,

This is a long shot but I had this issue recently with my 72’s left front speaker. I removed the right side lower dash panel and removed & cleaned all of the speaker connections I could find that were easy to access. I was probably just lucky but it worked for me as a last ditch effort before I had to deal with the left speaker.

[Patrick B.]

[Mick D.]

Re: C3 Speaker troubleshooting tips (1971)

Thanks for all of the info Patrick - I will give the right speaker option a try!

Michael —- As Dan said you can get access to the wiring to both speakers by removing the lower right side dash panel. Unfortunately, these speakers seem to fail with age. On my 1970 low mileage LT1, both speakers became totally silent. With the lower right side panel removed, it is easy to test the speakers for poor connections and it is easy to replace the right speaker. In my case, I replaced the right speaker and decided to live with the inoperable left speaker. It was simply not worth the risk of breaking a perfect original top dash cover to replace the left speaker.

[Floyd B.]

Re: C3 Speaker troubleshooting tips (1971)

Michael,

I wouldn't assume the problem is in the speaker or wiring until you perform some tests to isolate the problem. A 50 year old radio is also prone to failure. For example, the AM band in my original '69 AM/FM radio recently went on the blink. Once you gain access to the rear of the radio, you might want to try swapping the speaker connections. If the '71 radio is wired similar to a '69, then there are 2 approximately 1 ft leaders out the rear of the radio with "L" shaped Packard Electric 2-prong Series 59 connectors (one for each speaker).

Good luck,

-Floyd-

[Mick D.]

Re: C3 Speaker troubleshooting tips (1971)

Thanks Floyd, and a good call out - The correct way to do this would be to pull the parts, and test to make sure we understand the problem. I do plan to video this fix if I can, so maybe I can add back to the community.