THe front speakers on the base radio of our 2011 malibu quit working. The fade and balance are set in the middle. If all set the fade and balance all the way for the front speakers you can barely hear them. Also, the door chime no longer works. The dealer replaced the cabin filter and I am thinking that maybe one of the connections on the radio was loosened in the process.
That makes sense to me, take it back to the dealer.
More than likely the amplifier for the front speakers in the audio system is no longer working.
Also, the door chime uses the audio system to create the chime.
Tester
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Thanks for the info. Do I need to replace the radio?
Thanks for your input!
Probably a pinched wire when someone jammed that new filter there. I will go back to the dealer.
The filter change on almost all cars I have had is a 3 minute gig, not even worth the gas to drive to the dealer even if it was free. This is now another reason to do it yourself.
Thanks for your input. I removed the glove box door this AM. No radio cables even close to it. In fact, no wires at all is there is no light in the glove box. Again, thanks for your reply.
Check your fuses as a possibility.
There is only one plug at the back of the radio for all the speaker and power wires. The antenna(s) have separate plugs and there probably is a separate data plug if you have things like you gas mileage etc displayed by the radio. It is not likely a wiring problem if both front speakers are affected the same.
The inside of the radio is made up of modules, often with one micro chip or LSIC (large scale integrated circuit) for each module. Generally the modules consist of two stereo amp modules, one for front and one for rear, a receiver/demodulation module, (two if you have sat radio), a display module, a control module and other modules for functions like car monitoring.
Your front power amp module probably went bad, but it could be an issue in the control module. The cost to repair often is more than the cost of a good aftermarket head unit. But if you have engine monitoring built into your factory radio, you might lose these functions. Also most aftermarket head units put out more power than the factory speakers can handle so you will need new speakers as well.
An electronic auto tech specialist could remove the radio for you and bench test it; then you’d know for sure if the problem was the radio, the speakers, or the wiring. If the radio’s broken it will have to be removed anyway, so not much to lose.
Thank you for your advice. I have given some thought to replacing the radio.
Thank you for your advice. I can remember when I was hIgh school putting a packard radio in old 53 caddy that I inherited. It was no big deal then.
The front speakers were bad. It turns out this model car has a history of bad speakers. I had them replaced all is well now.
Thanks for the update. Speakers. Malibu. No go.