I put some Rockford Fosgate 6.5" speakers in the front doors of my '98 Civic at the beginning of last Summer.
This Summer, I noticed that only the front ones would cut in and out randomly. Either one would work and the other one wouldn't, or both would stop working for a few seconds and then work again. Now, the passenger side one works, but the driver's side speaker is only about half as loud as the passenger side speaker and when all four speakers and my two subs are on, it sounds as though the driver's side one doesn't work at all (even though it barely is).
I cut out the plastic rain guard thing and was an idiot and didn't put any kind of plastic behind these speakers. Judging by the rust, water most likely is the culprit here right? But why does the passenger side one work fine? I know the install is very crude/a hack job.

 

i would start by isolating the speaker terminals on the speaker making sure they do not come in contact with the metal from the door do the speakers work fine when they are not mounted, or do you have the same problem?

 

Good ideas, I'll check them out tomorrow if I have the time. Has anyone done any kind of mod to prevent the rain from getting at the speakers (putting some kind of plastic or something behind the speaker etc.)?

 

you can order speaker baffles from crutchfield or any metra dealer

 

I've been reading up on speaker baffles and I've read nothing but horror stories of the baffles making the speakers sound like junk.

I didn't get to seeing if the speaker sounds good when it is not mounted in the door, but I have tomorrow off so hopefully I can do so then.

 

i don't leave the baffles sealed, i punch a hole in them but in such a position to keep water from falling in. it's kind of a cheap way to make an infinite baffle

 

Could you make it look like the stock water guard (half circle shape that covers the top part of the magnet)?

I took the speaker out of the door and it sounded the same so the way its mounted isn't causing the problem. Then I took the working speaker (passenger side) out and it looked brand new (no rust like the speaker pictured). So apparently only the drivers side door has a weather stripping/water sealing problem.

 

did you swap the speakers to see if the volume issue was still there?? if the newer looking one works great in the drivers door, then you can assume the original drivers speaker is bad and needs to be replaced.

 

I was going to do that, but just looking at the speakers and knowing I took out the water protection thing, I just assumed the drivers side speaker was toast. I only paid around $70-80 for the speakers (they used to sell for way more than that) so I'm planning on making some kind of water guard and just getting a new pair. I looked at the wiring and connections and everything looked good.

 

So I went ahead and bought some new speakers. What I'm thinking of doing is buying a set of foam baffles and cutting one in half to make a water guard. Will this work? Should the speaker still sound good?