[maxxedout]

have a 08 and was riding in the back seat yesterday and noticed the speakers in the doors are not working, checked the fader and still nothing. Does anyone know where the wires for them are run from and could it be the radio itself.

 

[medicrxdoc]

The rear speakers can be set to use headphones by pressing a button on the back of the front center console with the A/C controls on my Acadia. If set as such, a little headphone icon appears in the upper right of the head unit display. I don't know about the Outlook controls.

Check for this icon to rule out a simple issue first.

 

[maxxedout]

Checked and mine does not have the rear radio it only has the heat and ac controls. I never get the easy fix.

 

[Porchdog]

The radio in my '08 plays only in the front left speaker and it is very low volume and all treble. Anyone have any ideas?

 

[GM Customer Service]

Hello porchdog,

I am sorry to hear about this! We would be happy to get you in contact with your local GM dealership. Feel free to send us a private message at any time with your name, address, phone number, VIN, mileage, and name of preferred dealership. Thank you!

Jessica
GM Customer Care

The radio in my '08 plays only in the front left speaker and it is very low volume and all treble. Anyone have any ideas?

 

[Porchdog]

I am interested in an idea as to what is wrong, GM Customer Serv. not an appointment.

 

[maxxedout]

Had to replace both rear speakers. It (or least mine ) was not a wiring issue. Removed them and checked them on another stereo and nothing, looking at them they look fine but cheap.

 

[oldchief50]

Sorry to hear about the speaker issue. Have the same problem, 1st the passenger side rear speaker quit, then the driver's side, then the front passenger, then the drivers door (became very intermittent). However, the tweeters on the "A" pillar worked just fine. Pulled the head unit out, checked all wiring fm connectors to speakers, ohm'd out ok @ 4 ohms. Head unit is the problem, sent mine to RIVE ELECTRONICS in CA for repair. The did my Z28 & it worked great! If you have a spare 4 ohm speaker, run some jumper wires from the factory connector on the door pillar & see if works. If same results, suspect head unit is faulty. Everything runs thru them nowadays, if it faults out, then it will start affecting other items eventually. Hope it helps.

 

[oldchief50]

One other thing, don't use the dealership, mine wanted to replace the unit cause they don't have the techs to fix this issue. They replace the unit ($500 - 600) new, used will run about $150, then the charge $150 to reprogram it to your vehicle. RIVE ELECTRONICS charges a flat $135 to fix mine, plus $15 for S&H. Alot cheaper & these guys do all kinds of vehicle factory radio repairs (including finding that lost knob!!)

 

[Porchdog]

The radio in my '08 plays only in the front left speaker and it is very low volume and all treble. Anyone have any ideas?

I have an update....I now experience that SOMETIMES everything works great. Also noticed, when the radio does not work, neither do any of the warnings, turn signal, seatbelt etc. Any ideas now?

 

[ls973800]

I have an update....I now experience that SOMETIMES everything works great. Also noticed, when the radio does not work, neither do any of the warnings, turn signal, seatbelt etc. Any ideas now?

Have you done anything to try and solve this? Usually it is the amplifier, but as others in this post mentioned, it could be the speakers, head unit, or connections. The turn signal sound and buzzers do use the radio speakers for the sound, and most of the time when they don't work, it is the amplifier.

 

[Lewrish]

Had to replace both rear speakers. It (or least mine ) was not a wiring issue. Removed them and checked them on another stereo and nothing, looking at them they look fine but cheap.

Were your speakers new? in my car one rear speaker doesn't work sometimes, sometimes it works fine :-\

 

[electbc]

My left front speaker is intermittently working. Now my onstar lady friend inside my dash has laryngitis sometimes. And my key in ignition chime sometimes dosent work as well as my backup warning chime. Where is that rive electronics place that repairs these things? Dealers charge too much.

 

[nickraw]

Fade the head unit all the way to the back, then adjust the balance all the way to the left or right. Does it sound better with only one speaker compared to both speakers? If so, reverse the (+) and (-) connections on one of the two speakers.

Even if you got the polarities correct when hooking up the new speakers, it's possible someone made an error when they bypassed the stock amp.

If this doesn't solve the issue, I'd try running new speaker wires directly from the rear speakers to the head unit, disconnecting any factory wiring entirely.

 

[09carbon8]

On mine unless it is very hot outside only the driver side speakers, and passenger side tweeter work and there is no bass. When its hot out I mean like 95 degrees or hotter, everything works fine. I can hear the turn signal, key in ignition warning chime and bluetooth voice fine then. Not sure how to fix. Some people say it is the amp. Mine is only the XE model. Does it have an amp?

 

[electbc]

Thought mine was amp. I replaced the stereo with a new aftermarket unit but still no driver door speaker and the front passenger is intermittent. I took it out and returned to factory stereo.
I am going to replace speakers.
I replaced the front door speakers, that was the problem. There was corrosion on the connector but there was no continuity in the speaker itself. The new Bose speakers sound nice.

 

[Chris Rae]

I had the same symptoms as those in the original post... no sound from rear speakers, but rear seat audio was not switched on and the fader was set in the middle.

You're going to have to trust me here, but there is a little music symbol on the top right of the head unit (the one that adjusts fader/bass etc). If you hold that down for a few seconds, it will reset each of those fader-style controls to the middle. I did that and suddenly I had rear seat audio. And yes, the fader *was* set in the middle before I did that.

I realise this is far too late for the original poster (and I don't think would help anyway given their update), but I thought I'd add this here because this is the #1 Google hit for "saturn outlook rear speakers stopped working".

 

[CGTIII]

Before you try any of the above solutions, be sure to drain and shake the accumulated water from the rubbery conduits between the door(s) and car body. Then wait 24 dry hours to be sure the connections have dried.

 

[rhockin]

Before you try any of the above solutions, be sure to drain and shake the accumulated water from the rubbery conduits between the door(s) and car body. Then wait 24 dry hours to be sure the connections have dried.

I can attest to this. The wiring harnesses have been known to collect water causing issues with speakers. I have this problem EVERY time it rains. After a few days of hot dry weather, my speakers start working again. This happens to all 4 of my speakers in my Outlook. I'm yet to get around to checking it myself, but you're possibly looking at wire damage in the harness as well.

 

[CGTIII]

When I sold it I was considering putting a small cut in the very bottom of the rubber conduit (being careful not to nick the wires, of course) so any accumulated water could drain. Any opinions on doing that?