Lift gate speakers don’t work

Hi everyone,

yesterday I noticed there is no audio coming from my lift gate speakers. All other speakers and tweeters work. I tested for power and no power coming to the lift gate speakers. I also noticed that the party mode button is not making any changes (passenger door speakers are unaffected by pushing the button and still no audio from lift gate speakers). Recently I had a new head unit installed but I honestly don’t know if the lift gate speakers were working before that (I’ve only owned the truck for a few months). Also, the previous owner upgraded all speakers except the lift gate speakers. The OEM head unit was in the truck when I purchased it. Please help me trouble shoot this. Thanks!

 

A shop installed the head unit? Maybe the liftgate speakers aren’t plugged in? Could be the previous owner hadn’t connected them and the shop just plugged in speakers as it came to them.

 

Most likely the lift gate speakers disconnected on purpose.

When I went to upgrade the speaker on the 4Runner the plan is to upgrade just front & rear door speakers. While doing this since rear door and cargo door speakers are in series the cargo door speakers will be removed from the chain. Per the audio expert the cargo speakers don't have much impact in the listening experience. So the focus would only be front 2 tweeters, 2 front door speakers, 2 rear door speakers.

Based on that experience I think your cargo door speakers are disconnected on purpose. Showing it to an audio shop might find correct answers.

Edit -
My newer 4Runner didn't have the party mode switch. So there was no functionality to separate power rear speakers. So your 2011 SR5 wiring might be different than mine.

 

This is very interesting. So do you think they cut the wires somewhere? Most likely at the back seat speakers? Why bother with that when they could have just unplugged the speakers? I’d like to have them functioning. I don’t think the problem is at the head unit because the back seat speakers work which I am told are on the same series as cargo speakers. The other question is why don’t the back seat speakers cut out when I push the party mode button?

 

Dude, I thought you were bs'ing us with that "Party Mode" switch comment. Then I Googled it and found this:

 

From what I understood If they just unplug cargo door speakers the circuit will not work. There should be a wire from rear door back to the headunit / amp to complete the circuit. This is a basic diagram on my head based on what the audio shop told me. I could be very wrong, just what I understood. With the party mode I not sure how different yours be. May be a good audio shop can upgrade your rear cargo door speakers and give you a fun audio experience on tail gate parties.

 

Thanks for this. But the issue is that I found no power at the plugs for the rear speakers. So I’m guessing they cut wires but then that begs the question how do the backseat speakers work if the circuit is not complete? I was hoping that the speakers were just blown but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Honestly, the truck sounds great with the upgraded pioneer speakers and head unit but I want the rear speakers for beach/tailgaiting

 

From that diagram, the impedance of the rear speakers in series would add together.
Example: In the original configuration, lets say the head unit (or amplifier) required 8 ohm speakers. The front speakers would be 8 ohms each while the rear and the hatch speakers would need to be 4 ohms each to total 8 ohms.
With the head unit replaced and the front and rear speakers replaced with 8 ohm speakers, the easiest fix would be to eliminate the tailgate speakers from the rear circuit.
This is my assumption of what was done. The tailgate speakers could be brought back into play by throwing some(?) more money into it.

 

Since the back door speakers are in the same circuit as the rear gate speakers, they will also cease to work when the rear gate speakers are unplugged. So, to allow the speakers in the back doors to continue working, you have to jumper the connectors at the rear gate speakers. I simply got a short piece of single conductor wire and plugged it into the terminals on the rear gate speaker connectors. The connectors are easy to access by removing the lights on the inside of the rear gate. Then, snap the lights back in place when you’re done. I no longer use Party Mode, but it will still work if you desire to use it. Also, the impedance of the rear speaker circuit will change from 8 ohms to 4 ohms, making the load on the head unit or amp a bit less.

 

thank you very much. I am going to give this a try? To be clear, you simply shoved the stripped wire end into the connectors and plugged them into the speakers with the wires stuck in there?

 

Yes. It’s that simple.

 

Just to be clear, it's not a good idea. Quoting Diecast Audio:

https://www.diecastaudio.com/can-you-use-4-ohm-speakers-on-a-8-ohm-stereo-system/

"Understanding Speaker and Amplifier Impedance is crucial to answer this question. In general, speakers with lower impedance (like 4 ohms) require more power to drive them than speakers with higher impedance (like 8 ohms). If you connect a 4 ohm speaker to an amplifier that’s designed for 8 ohm speakers, you might run into problems, such as the amplifier overloading or overheating. On the other hand, if you connect an 8 ohm speaker to an amplifier that’s designed for 4 ohm speakers, you might not get enough volume or power from the system."

 

my head unit allows 4 to 8 ohms impedance rating for speakers. It has a built in amp, I do not have an external amp. This should be ok then right?

 

Yes, you are right - most amps and head units are 4 ohm stable, so you should be perfectly fine using a 4 ohm load. Some are even 2 ohm stable.