Fixing the Unfixable Chrysler Infinity Door Speakers

[Oklahoma Wolf]

I'm reposting this from my topic at Allpar, just in case y'all thought I was getting my sanity back or something.

As you are about to find out, boredom can do strange things to a guy. Like make him wonder if he can finally figure out how to fix those evil little amps on the backs of AC body Chrysler/Infinity door speakers. You know, the ones filled up with potting compound to make them about a billion times harder to service.

It all started with the only door speaker that came with my current New Yorker. Having already repaired the two EMIT tweeter Chrysler/Infinitys I got on the last yard run, I decided to take on the challenge of fixing that door speaker too, or at least try and figure out what the problem was. So, I tossed it onto the workbench, applied 12V and audio, and listened to utter silence from the speaker for several seconds.

Then, I touched the heatsink to see if the power amp chip was working. It was warm, so I knew it was getting power. So, I gently pried off the cover and powered it up again. I began to press down on the potting compound over different sections of the amp. As soon as I did so over the preamp chip, the speaker came to life.

Aha, I thought, bad solder joints. And with the amp full of this evil orange crap, I knew there was only one place that could have developed bad joints - the power amp chip, as it's the only part attached to the heatsink. So, I took the 60W iron and burned right down through the compound to resolder the amp chip. Then, while I was at it, I burned down to other joints that looked suspicious. It was at this point I noticed the potting compound was getting soft underneath. I got my screwdriver under a corner of it, pried up gently, and...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v297/Oklawolf/Electronic%20Repairs/C-I%20Door%20Speakers/Dscn3198.jpg

...the whole layer of compound covering the amp's PCB pulled right off as you can see above. This was likely due to the longer PCB traces heating up enough to loosen the potting compound. I then resoldered just about everything in sight, put the amp back in its housing, and tested it. Success! One fully working door speaker.

Encouraged, I moved on to two others needing attention. Next up was the door speaker from the 1990 New Yorker I visited at the yard last year. When powered up, it hummed like crazy and let no audio though. The repair went exactly the same as before - soon I had another working door speaker.

Then, I moved on to #3, or as I like to call it, the door speaker from the devil's Dynasty. This one fought me all the way, and I have pics to prove it. The potting compound was super strong, and I broke part of the housing and the top cover getting it apart. Also broke a screwdriver in the "prying out the amp" phase. Pics:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v297/Oklawolf/Electronic%20Repairs/C-I%20Door%20Speakers/Dscn3193.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v297/Oklawolf/Electronic%20Repairs/C-I%20Door%20Speakers/Dscn3199.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v297/Oklawolf/Electronic%20Repairs/C-I%20Door%20Speakers/Dscn3200.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v297/Oklawolf/Electronic%20Repairs/C-I%20Door%20Speakers/Dscn3201.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v297/Oklawolf/Electronic%20Repairs/C-I%20Door%20Speakers/Dscn3202.jpg

You can see where I burned sideways through the potting compound to try and get it off the underside of the amp. This resulted in a screwdriver slipping and gouging my left thumb pretty good as I tried to scrape it all off. Finally though, I did get it all off and the repair was again successful. However, because of the damage to the amp case, I had to not only glue it back together, but melt it together with the iron to make sure it held.

I still have the companion to this one to do, as well as some more amps to fix for the speakers currently in Mother's car (that have already been removed, thank God). But, injuries aside, it does look like these can be repaired after all, as long as one's insane enough to try it :lol:

I also discovered it's not a good idea to breathe the fumes this potting compound gives off when melted. The leprechaun dancing on my keyboard says so, anyway. And it hurts when the fumes get in your eyes ;)

[CBRworm]

I had an '89 Grand Voyager with that stuff. What a pain it was. The stuff sounded decent when it worked. My method was to slam the doors until the sound came back on. I was the one person who had the original UltraDrive transmission last to almost 200k (198K to be exact) When it broke it was a simple fix. The transmission guy looked at it and said there would be no warranty because he had no idea how it worked, but he would fix the mechanical failure. It worked another 80K before the engine blew a head gasket. The engine had a top end rebuild around the 150K mark to repair the leaky valve stem seals. The van was retired in '95 so the miles went on pretty quickly. Right before the head gasket blew, the A/C quit working - so it was time to put it to pasture.

The van was used mostly for towing my motorcycle trailers around to races.

[Oklahoma Wolf]

In '89, the dash speakers had amps too and there were no door speakers. Those dash amps were highly problematic for the bad joints... I have several pairs of them, and only one pair never needed resoldering. These are the only ones (88 and 89 only) to get actual Infinity EMIT tweeters too - those things are incredible.

As morning came, I discovered that only two of the five speakers I fixed yesterday were working still. Two had distortion issues again, and one was so bad it played really loud for a bit with heavy distortion until I yanked the power from it. I've re-repaired that one... as it turns out with my multiple hand injuries by that point, I never did completely remove the compound and resolder the amp in the first place and had missed several bad joints.

So, that one works again. But, the room stinks like crazy again as a consequence ;)

[CBRworm]

Your right, the front speakers were in the dash and the tailgate, but slamming the doors (or the tailgate) usually fixed the problem temporarily. As well as pounding on the dash. I didn't realize they had the EMIT tweeters, but I do remember that when it all worked it sounded great.

I miss those vans. I also had an 85 with a 4 banger and 3 speed auto.

What is funny is that for a while I was buying mini-vans. I had 2 mopars, 2 ford aerostars, 1 Toyota space shuttle looking van and then a full size chevy 1500. Out of all of them my favorite were the old dodge and the plymouth. They were both fairly reliable. Neither of the aerostars made it out of warranty on the original tranny and both were retired well before the 150K mark due to the massive amounts of engine/transmission/AC repair work needed to keep them running. Both of the Aerostars after having the tranny's replaced by the dealer under warranty had the next set done at Aamco with the lifetime rebuild. I think I got my moneys worth. The Chevy van had a lot of problems when it was new, but got better after the transmission and air conditioning were replaced under warranty. It was more reliable from 50K to 150K than it was from new to 50K. I gave it to a family I know about 5 years ago, they are still driving it. The 4 cylinder dodge van was ultra reliable - it had crank up windows and A/C. It finally broke a rod on the highway at well over 200K miles. It didn't have a tach and I don't know the gearing, but I would bet that on the highway in top gear it was spinning over 4,000 at 80mph. The toyota van was retired at 89K due to the second tranny failing as well as it overheating and miscelaneous other electrical problems that I didn't want to deal with. It was the least reliable of all of them. I put $2,600 into the A/C on that one right before the second tranny died and I traded it in.

I never realized how much time I spent working on them, or having them worked on until I broke down and bought a new 4x4 V8 Toyota tundra when they came out in '00. I put 220K on the tundra in the first 4 years with almost no repair work. In that time I had to replace a fan clutch, a mass airflow sensor, a handful of O2 sensors and the rear end spider gear. For maintenance I did lots of oil changes, and changed the timing belt, water pump, and fan belts at 140K.

What was cool was that when I sold the tundra with all those mile on it, it was still worth good money. The vans at the end of their service life I ended up giving to people who had no vehicle or let them sit behind my office. They had less value than the power supplies we use in our computers. Except for the Toyota van. It still had some trade-in value, but I pity whoever got that one.

[Oklahoma Wolf]

My folks have been Chrysler minivan owners ever since Dad sold them, in the 80's. We had an '84 with the 2.6, an '88 with the 3.0, a '93 with the 3.3, a '96 with the 3.8, and now an '03 with the 3.3.

My favorite had to be the '93... it was really loaded. Only missing one or two options as I recall. Second favorite was the '88 Grand Voyager.

The '03 is a great van so far, but rather bland to my tastes. I actually liked the '96 tranny wrecker it replaced better, but the 3.8 and power driver's seat might have had a lot to do with why I liked it better. That, and not being the one who had to pay the tranny bill ;)

The A604 Ultradrive was a pain in these up until '99 or so, when they went to new fluid and finally got them reliable enough to not have to worry about them. These trannies started out in the New Yorkers in 1989, so my 88's have been one year too old to get them. They got the 3 speed instead.

Only two of the vans my folks have been through (the '84 and '03) didn't have Infinity, so I got to learn a lot about the systems over the years. The '03 now has Infinity thanks to yours truly cleaning up at the yards for $5 a pair.

[MrTank]

Hummm might have to fix some, and swap them into my Acclaim. I love EKKs they are like an erector set you can swap parts between them all.... Thanks for the post.

Daniel

[Oklahoma Wolf]

As it turns out, I was wrong about the minivans and the EMIT tweeters. There was one other car that got those tweeters - early LeBaron convertibles had them as part of the rear 5.25" speakers. And they sound better due to much bigger woofer magnets and voice coils. Got a set of those yesterday :D

[Oklahoma Wolf]

Had a little fun at my own expense this morning. Trotted out my Chrysler/Infinity collection for a group photo and then did this:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v297/Oklawolf/Cars/poster38161553.jpg

Not shown - the 3 head units and 21 speakers currently in use somewhere :D