Now that I'm driving the Outlander now, I've noticed that I'm not getting a lot of sound out of both my left channels. I've given my wife a hard time for blowing out the speakers, as stated in the manual. Then I've moved the output of the speakers to each...kinda sounds like blown speakers: scratchy audio from tweeters...barely anything from the speaker on both left channels...right channels are fine.

Reading through the service manual talks about a speaker test. haven't done that yet, but will. After that, it talks about a chatter test. I've never heard of that before. Anyone have any additional information??

Something else I plan on testing, service manual says to apply 5 volts to the speakers to listen to noise. Only place I can think of that outputs 5 volts are older PC power supplies.

 

never could get the diagnostic test to work...so I sent old school and started swapping speakers. moved right rear speaker to the front left and was pleasantly surprised that all speakers now started working correctly. 5 min later, the left channel cut out again. damn.

Going to local salvage yard and picking up a used one for $75.

On a related note, the speakers are 4-ohm 15w.

 

Don't know about this 'chatter test'. Applying 5VDC to the speaker won't really determine if the speaker is blown. But hold that 5VDC on the speaker and I'm sure it will damage it.

If those speakers are rated at 4 Ohms each, then maybe you can consider going with a new 'pair' of aftermarket speakers for $99/pr or less.

 

new speakers won't help. I moved a "good" speaker to the affected side...still same problems...so the issue must be in the radio. Found a used one for $75 via car-parts.com.