Prius Speaker Issue and Fix

My 4 speakers were shot for some reason...I removed the door trim connected external speakers and they work perfect. Problem solved by replacing the 4 speakers. It was a pain removing the speakers as they were riveted to the door instead of screws... What a stupid idea by Toyota!!

 

Thanks for starting this thread. On my 2004 Gen 2 with the JBL audio package, the middle left and right front speakers (woofers) had all experienced foam tear/decay. Somewhere else on priuschat there is a thread about this, but I thought I'd note here, that the simple solution to this 'fuzzy/bad' sounding woofer problem is just to carefully slice off the old foam/surround and replace with a new speaker surround/foam.

Instead of removing rivets and having to match ohm/frequency stuff, why not, just go with stock OEM? You could buy new used speakers for not too much money, but you might end up with the same unfoaming situation.

The foams are between 6" and maybe 6.125" ideally. They're available from reputable sites in the US in nice kits that come with glue and better foams. You can also get less reputable foams from Ebay and use white glue specifically made for fabric - which is flexible.

I tried using flexible CA (super glue) after a hardware person recommended it, but it didn't work well between the cone paper and the foam -- and the accelerator (moister/alcohol spray) seemed to attack the foam. Don't try that.

I at first had trouble taking off the speakers - after undoing the 4 philips screws, it was still tightly affixed. By gently and slowly but firmly prying off the metal speaker housing from the black plastic base (the thing rivetted to the door), you can remove a stuck woofer for repair on your workbench, or kitchen table. Find some plastic or metal containers that can be turned upside down to press on the cone/foam edge while the white fabric glue is drying. Put a pound or so of weight on top of that to ensure pretty good seal to the cone. After that dries, glue the foam/speaker metal part and use a container and 1-2 pounds to press the two surfaces together during drying; you can, and probably should, reuse the orange JBL ring thing, if your car came with it. You can glue that on too - and put the weights on top. My fabric glue bottle doesn't give cure/dry times, but I recall it is about 24 hours.

I've not put the speakers back into the car yet, but if you center the foam during the foam/cone gluing, check that the cone can move slightly but freely and then center the foam/metal housing gluing, you will have DIY repaired speakers - and you'll be able to repair any woofers that you come across over the rest of your life!

 

Do you mean the front tweeters when you say door trim connected external speakers? So you removed the tweeters and all 4 worked? Or you had to replace all 4?

The reason I'm asking is all four of my door speakers don't work but the tweeters do so I think the aftermarket stealth install head unit is ok. I don't really wanna tear the dash apart to check the connections to the speakers if it is in fact the speakers.