jerseymike

hey all,

quick question re: stock am/fm radio in a '68 "98".

the front speaker is working strange. Sometimes it's there as soon as I turn on the radio,other times it cuts in and out,sometimes it stays on for hours then just decides it wants to "disconnect".

I try moving the fader around but no help, when the front is working it switches from front to back real well when front isn't working I get nothing when turned to full front.

when it's functioning it sounds just fine.

am I looking for a short or loose wire for the front speaker or is it in the radio controls?

the power antenna was swapped out years back.

jaunty75

You should be able to verify in about 5 seconds if the speaker is ok. I have a '67 Delta 88, and getting at the front speaker entails reaching up under the dash, but it's not too bad. I assume it's the same or similar in your case.

If you can, hook the speaker up to a known good source. You can use a portable radio with an earphone output. Cut the wire to the earphone (use something cheap for this) and attach the the two leads to the two speaker terminals. Putting alligator clips on the ends would make this easier when reaching up under the dash to attach them. The turn the radio on and hope for the best.

I'm going to guess that your problem is the radio itself. If your speaker was bad, I think it would be consistently bad. Buzzing or low-volume or something like that. When these old speakers fail, it's usually because the cones have gotten dried to a crisp and don't vibrate like they used to. There could also be a tear in it.

Since no ever sees the speaker, there's not reason not to put something new and modern in there if you have any doubt about the old one. Just make sure the new speaker has the same resistance rating, at least if you're going to use the old radio. I think the old speakers are 10 ohms.

Lady72nRob71

If fiddling with the fader does not affect it, then I would suspect the speaker or wiring from the fader to the speaker.

I have had speakers where the tinsel wire at the cone develops a bad connection at the terminal (resolder it) and at the cone (very careful resolder - probably a replace).
If you absolutely cannot do the above radio-sub trick , you can use a 9V dry cell to put across the speaker leads (disconnect from radio first!). The speaker cone will move up or down (depends on polarity) to its full extent, which should reveal the issue you are having.
Do not keep it connected for more than a few seconds at a time though.