BACKGROUND: My truck came with the Infinity sound system. When I got the truck in January of 2007, I immediately took out the factory head unit and replaced it with the JVC out of my old vehicle. I have installed some subs and an amp for them and all works well. I blew one of the factory tweeters so I replaced those with aftermarket infinity units. To install them, I ran the wires directly to the back of the head unit and spliced them into the wiring harness. Everything worked great.

Fast forward to ~February of this year… When I got back to my truck, from being out of town on business, I noticed that only the subs were working. No sound was coming from the door speakers or the tweeters in the pillars. I was confused and thought something was wrong with the head unit. I turned the radio off and continued on home. Just before I got home I decided I’d give it one last try and when I turned the radio on, everything worked correctly. Figured it was some freak occurrence and everything was good. Well, I was wrong.

Every morning when I get in the truck to go to work, same thing happens. No sound from anything other then the subs. I turn the radio off and go to work. After a little while I try it again and it works properly. I thought maybe the grid heater was pulling too much current and not letting the Infinity system turn on properly. My first attempt was to plug the truck in overnight. It hasn’t been cold here so there is no real need to plug the truck in, but I thought id give it a try. No dice. Next I thought it might be the JVC head unit going out so I put the factory head unit back in. Great it works. Only problem is now I don’t have highs or bass. No highs because the tweeters were ran directly to the head unit.

Last night I purchased a new head unit, Pioneer 6000UB. Get everything wired up and when I power it on, everything works as should. I took some time to try to tune the system, but its still not quite right. That’s another thread though. Anyway, I get in the truck this morning and same thing happens again. No sound except from the subs. Being mad as can be I turned it off. Get about 10 miles down the road, turn it on, and it works normally.

I have effectively ruled out the head unit, and the subs. I probably should have left the factory unit in for more then one day to see if it would do it too, but I couldn’t live without a decent sounding system. It seems to me that something within the Infinity system has to “warm up” before it will work. I don’t think this has ever happened in the afternoons/evenings once it is warmer outside. Also worth mentioning is that when the unit turns on in the morning I get a quick, short sound that sounds like ripping paper. Then nothing until a few miles down the road. What really confuses me is that the tweeters don’t work either. I can only assume that there is some sort of feed back from the Infinity system that won’t allow them to play. It doesn’t matter if its on FM/AM/CD/USB. Also remember that everything has worked properly for a little over a year.

I hesitate to replace the factory speakers, because I don’t want to tear everything out to run new wires and take the door panels off.

PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!

 

Mkae sure it's grounded good. I've heard that Dodge likes to rely on the antenna to make a ground for the radio. Physically hook a wire to the body of the radio (usually a stud with a nut on it on the back) to a known good clean metal ground.

Grounds should always be the first thing to check with any electrical issue.

 

do you mean to ground the radio "chassis" to the truck or make sure the ground from the radio harness goes to the truck?

on the infinity system there is a ground to the back of the head unit. i connected that ground to the ground coming out of the factory harness adapter and radio harness.

why would this appear after more then a year?

I HATE ELECTRICAL....

 

the biggest problem is that it only happens in the mornings. it has nothing to do with how long it sits. for instance, i got home ~9:45pm last night and left for work at 6am thi morning. that means the truck sat for 8:15 minutes. i got to the park and ride this morning at 6:20am and got back to the truck from work at 4:45pm. so it sat for 10:25 minutes. it was messed up this morning when i started it up, but worked perfectly this evening when i got in.

it has to be temperature related. however, the temperatures arent that much different from this morning to this evening. mid 70s all day. the differnece may be the interior temperature being higher due to windows rolled up and the sun heating up the inside.

what i dont understand is how electrical components could/would be effected by minor changes in heat like that. i could understand more if there was a drastic change and something was expanding/contracting...

anyone else have a suggestion?

 

a question i have for you and maybe you anwsered it (i may be misreading what you said) is how are the mid's and hi's wired....

i realize that you have an amp(s)..most people have one amp running the subs and another running thier hi's..like i do...i have NO SPEAKERS running to the back of the deck....

just so i am understanding you...i see it as you have the subs running to an amp...then the door speakers AND the pillar tweeters running/spliced into the back of the deck correct...and did your infinity stock system come with an amp from the factory???/

let me know if i am reading this right...i have two possible theroies as to the problem...

NCA

 

The infinity system comes with six speakers. one in each door and a tweeter in each pillar. i have heard varying stories about exactly where the amp(s) is for the factory system. some say its in the dash and some say there is an amp on the front door speakers which in turn provides power to the remaining two speakers on that side.

when i installed my head unit, i got an adapter harness and just plugged the new head unit harness into the factory harness. several months ago i blew one of the factory tweeters. i replaced them with aftermarket ones. the speakers in the infinity system are 2ohm speakers. the new tweeters are 4ohm. so when i installed them i didnt reconnect to the factory wiring. instead i ran the wires to the back of the head unit and spliced in to the fronts there. like i said earlier, it all worked great for over a year.

i only have one aftermarket amp which powers the subs...

 

It's gotta be a loose wire of some sort. My guess is a ground for the head unit or factory Infinity amp. Temperature is a common indicator of loose/shorting wires. I would also check your remote wire from the factory Infinity amp to the head unit. I think Crutchfield should have a schematic on their website.
Also, your head unit and all amps will have a thermal(heat) overload trip circuit...or a "protective relay" which means, if you power up the system and there is a wire crossed somewhere(crackling just b4 it shuts down), it'll open the circuit and you won't hear anything out of that part of the system. When the circuit cools, the relay resets and you get your sound back after 10min or so.
As your truck heats and cools, your dash and parts move around a bit. If you have a wire barely rubbing a metal object, your speakers will work sometimes. This is also how it will work for a year and all of the sudden give you a major headache.

Sorry this is so long.
My best guess for your situation would be a bad ground or a wire touching metal on the tweeters you installed and hardwired to the head unit. Running new wires without a loom is a common culprit...it rubs the metal over a long period of time. I would start by running new wires to the replacement tweeters.

 

ok...gottcha

here is what i think....

you have power to the sub at all times...this is because you have an aftermarked amp hooked to 12v direct to the battery and only getting its signal to turn on from the remote wire lead, other than the sound comming through the rca there is nothing the head unit does for these speakers (simplified)

so that tells me that either the factory wire loom that you plug your aftermarket deck into is going south and not sending a signal to the stock mid's and highs via that remote wire to the stock infinity amp...or the stock infinity amp is shot and or going south and not sending the speakers enough juice.

basically it is the exact same for both amps...they both need 12v and a remote wire lead to tell it to turn on..you dont see the problem with the subs because it is NOT tied into the factory wiring it is all DIRECT...1 12v off the battery and only the "BLUE" remote lead off the aftermarket deck..(throw out the RCA's they dont count in this problem) .one of the two, to me seems to be bad. either (like above) the factory wire remote lead to the stock amp or the factory 12v to the stock amp. this is a common problem when intergrating stock stereo's to aftermarket components.

i had a simmilar problem in a toyota 4runner...they use a factory amp (located in the dash, like you think yours may be) and i tried running two amps and running the amp for the mids and high's off the factory remote lead...i had power beacuse i knew better than to run the amps off the factory battery lead....but the amp for my subs i ran the remote lead directly to the back of the aftermarket deck and the other i tried to tap into the remote lead from the factory wire loom....caused all kinds of intermitent sound then i said screw it and tied both into the aftermarked deck remote lead...never had a problem since.

hope this helps...it may only be food for thought but usually that leads to the right awnser.

NCA

 

try this site for the wire diagrahm.
http://www.autotoys.com/New_Tech/Wir...wire_codes.htm

 

Yep, Angler brings up a good point with splitting the remote wire to the factory amp and the sub amp...that could be another loose wire. It doesn't sound like the equipment is bad just yet since when it works, it works well...

 

responses to all the above....

wilsonsh - you mentioned a thermal overload circuit. i could go for that, except my situation is the exact opposite problem. it has problems until "something" warms up. atleast thats what it acts like. also i would go for the shorted wire that is rubbing on sharp metal, but why is it only in the morning when the interior temperature of the truck is cooler? it hasnt happened in the afternoons/evenings that i can remember. also you mentioned another loose wire at the amp signal wire. i just replaced the radio last night. when i did i rewired everything. so i know those connections are tight.

Nor_Cal_Angler - the remote lead for the sub amp is tied directly into the back of the head unit. the stock amp lead is also tied into the back of the head unit. it just goes though the adapter and the and a connector first.

i suppose i did just negate everything both of you mentioned. however, i do appreciate it and i will be checking into all that stuff.

on another note, i was bored and started reading the FSM for my truck. it says that if there is no sound coming from any of the speakers to check the radio filter, choke, relay unit.

i have attached a picture of the thing(its crappy but its the only one i could find on the internet) and a shot of it as it is in the FSM.

it is basically a coil and a relay. i would assume that over time (6 years) this part could start to wear out and become temperamental.

i am going to go to the dodge dealer tomorrow and see what i can come up with. if its fairly cheap i will buy it and replace it and see what i come up with.






again guys... thanks for the tips... hopefully i canfix this problem before summer gets here and its hot in the mornings as well... if not, then it could "fix" itself until it starts cooling down again

 

Looks like you could just replace the relay...with one from Radio Shack or Autozone or something....

Thermal overload circuit doesn't have to do with ambient temperature exactly. When you have a large current flow through a circuit, it creates heat in the components. Like a fuse...a thermal overload is a fuse that is resetable. So, when you shut your system down for 10min and alow the circuit to cool from high current flow, the overload resets and you get to use the circuit again. Just a thought that the short...whatever it is...gets a chance to readjust in that 10min so it doesn't short right away again. Sorry, this is sooo much guesswork...just throwing things out there!

If you rewired it, guess we can put that to rest. Yep, I like the replacement relay idea. With the way a relay works...could be ambient temperature sensitive if it is wore out. Should be able to bring it into an auto parts store and get a direct replacement. Heck, you could probably find it on the net before you go...

 

Dude, check this out:

http://www.repairfaq.org/REPAIR/F_au...#AUDIOFAQA_006

 

i agree with you about the aftermarket amp...but you just said that the stock amp is run remotley through the factory loom....this is one of the areas i mentioned as a failure point...

identify which wire is the REMOTE lead to the stock amp throught the loom and attach it directly to the head unit...i believe it is a faulty factory wire loom...giving intermitient power to the stock system (amp and speakers)

edit: just like in FISHING (ANGLER) the sure fire way to lose fish is your KNOTS...to eliminate this TYE LESS KNOTS...like the guys that tye their main line to a swivle and then they tye their leader to the swivle and then the hook to the leader...thats 3 points of failure..why not tye ONE knot at the main line to the swivle and then CRIMP on your leader and hook..eliminate the adapters and connectors...

 

here in lies the problem. there are TWO factory amps in the system. one on each front door speaker. im not sure where they split, but if it is a problem with the remote wire, it would have to be before the split. i will look in the FSM this afternoon to see if i can trace that location down.

thanks for the help...